Thank you for your reply. Having a child with drug and alcohol problems can make you feel very alone. I know there must be many, many families out there who suffer due to their children’s choices and actions. I was interested to read about the Stigma campaign as people’s attitudes don’t often help with how you’re feeling. Nobody ever asks about my son and he is still my boy despite the difficult decisions I have had to make to protect my other children. Not even some of my family members now. I don’t know if this is through embarrassment or because it is easier to ignore the problem. On a rainy night like this I worry about where he is sleeping, if he has eaten and what he has done to get the money to fund his habits. I have very little hope that the situation will end with a positive outcome as his mental health is so poor through all the years of abuse, although I never give up hope. The saddest thing is that he thinks I’ve given up on him because he doesn’t know about the times I’ve walked the streets looking for him and the things me and his sister have done to try and get him support. It will cost the state thousands of pounds if he continues to go in and out of prison and keeps abusing his body and yet help is difficult to find. It is the families who bear the brunt of lack of funding which is detrimental to our own health and well-being.
