GINTA – Our children deserve better

IT’S BEEN quite a turmoiled last few days. I will leave the U.S. election circus to the side for now because it’s way too crazy to get close to it and truth is, there is more than enough attention on it already. Three weeks to go and then who knows what’s next.

While it is true that our neighbours south of the border have their hands full, we’re not far from it either. There are some sad, downright heartbreaking happenings in Canada and that reflects poorly on all of us and on what we claim to be the values and principles we rely upon as a society.

One tragic story that shook me as I am sure it did many parents was the recent suicide of a 10-year-old girl in northern Saskatchewan. A third one in the last couple of weeks. My youngest is 10. I cannot imagine what could hurt a child of that age so profoundly that they see no way out. One child lost that way is one too many. Clearly something is amiss and we need to get to the bottom of it before more children die (aboriginal youth suicide rate is five times higher than the national average).

And there is more news involving children, equally disturbing though at a different level. Two cases (for now) of children being given the wrong medication by a pharmacist. One child survived with some internal damage (hopefully reversible) but the other one didn’t. Again, as a mother, I cannot imagine the depth of the kind of pain that comes with losing your child.

What is next? Are we to see more than settlements with the corporation that owns the pharmacy and formal apologies from the pharmacy? Are we to see that such terrible happenings will cause a chain reaction that will prevent lack of professionalism from taking another life or affecting others? What kind of wheels would have to be set in motion to reform the protocols that deal with human life?

We live in a time when there is a pill for everything, no matter the age. There is good money in that, I know. The mental health realm is a mined territory. Psychiatric drugs are some of the most prescribed and there are new afflictions appearing every couple of years. we apply treatment but do not pay enough attention to detect the cause.

Children are over diagnosed and overmedicated from an early age in some parts of the country while in other parts accurate assessments lack and children opt to take their own lives. What gives? Hyperactivity, anxiety and other mental health disorders are challenging to deal with, yet it is often consistent services involving behavioral therapy rather than a handful of pills that might solve the problem. No profitable pharma business indeed when drugs are not widely used and prescription refilled regularly but children might have a stronger chance at getting better than when they are being hooked on dangerously addictive medication before they reach teenagehood.

It’s a dangerous game to play indeed, medicating children with psychiatric drugs that is, given yet another crisis that is plaguing our country and our province too. The overdose deaths from fentanyl are on the rise and the last thing we need is an increased number of young people who live with the conviction that drugs can provide relief and increase the enjoyment coefficient.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the tragic story of hundreds of children who are sexually abused while in foster care. There are also the stats shining yet another shameful light on a problem that should not exist: the homeless and/or hungry children and their families. There is an increasing number of families seeking help with food and struggling with homelessness. That is plain wrong. This is not a poor country nor is it a place where children come last.

That the government has a busy agenda is true. I could also argue that it is not the right kind of busy since the climate change issue is getting sidetracked or downright ignored, despite campaign promises, that the missing and murdered aboriginal women issue is delayed, also despite campaign promises and the electoral reform seems to be getting set aside for sunnier times. Yes, this last one was also promised a year ago (a bit of a silly trend that carries serious trust issues one could argue.)

It’s not at that level that things will change though. Not because they should not but because of that bureaucratic inertia that affects those higher levels. It’s from the lower level that things might change after all. Our collective children, their health and education, and the well-being of their parents should be among the top issues to be brought up in the coming months when new local leaders will be elected. There is too much to lose if we let politeness and apolitical conversations replace the uncomfortable yet necessary dialogue that will see children safe and happy.

Daniela Ginta is a mother, scientist, writer and blogger. She can be reached at daniela.ginta@gmail.com, or through her blog at http://www.thinkofclouds.com.