Sarah Childs- Parents Charged after Opiates found in 8-year-old

Summary: Two Ohio parents face child endangerment charges after their 8-year-old son was found unresponsive last month with opiates in his system, authorities said. The couple had called 911 after they noticed the boy had stopped breathing. Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simko were charged with three counts of drug possession in a suburb of Cleveland. Emergency responders rushed to the home on January 11 and transported the boy to Southwest General hospital, where staff discovered the presence of opiates in his system. He tested positive for opiates and benzos, which were determined to be heroin, fentanyl and Xanax, according to Ryan Miday. Additionally, Simko and Dowdy were charged with child endangerment because they "did recklessly create a substantial risk to the health or safety" of their son and their actions "resulted in serious physical harm," according to court documents. In the 911 call, Dowdy told the dispatcher his son's lips were turning blue and he didn't think his son could breathe. He asked the dispatcher to "please hurry," and he was heard yelling, "Babe, I don't think he can breathe," to a woman in the background.

Analysis: This article was published by Ellie Kaufman from CNN on February 22, 2017. The author uses a third person point of view to convey an unbiased article. Additionally, I had a little previous knowledge of these dangers of drug abuse in children, so this article made me realize how important our enforcement of the drug law is, not only for adults, but also for our children. If we could have maintained healthy relations regarding drugs, we might have been able to maintain a healthy environment and save many lives of all ages. This article was written for any citizen of the US, or the world who want to keep our country safe for all people, especially our children. This danger to children can connect directly to child labor laws issued during the Progressive Era up until the 1920’s. These legislatures were passed directly for this reason and we need to protect our children like we did then.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/22/us/ohio-opiates-parents-arrested/index.html