Educators invited to join Latrobe discussion of problems faced by children born into addiction

Latrobe-based Angel Arms, a program that offers support for children born into addiction and their families, is inviting area educators to take part in a roundtable discussion about the learning issues such children can face, and possible solutions.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 27 in the offices of the affiliated Faith Forward Ministries, 338 Main St., Latrobe.

Faith Forward Executive Director Dawn Hennessey said the session is intended to “bring individuals together to ask questions and to see where we need to have questions answered — to help us gather data and, at the same time, let us know where we need to go forward.”

Some experts will be on hand to help lead the discussion about the problems of children who are born with prenatal exposure to drugs as well as those of children living in a home with addiction. Refreshments will be available.

In a January 2018 Internal Medicine Journal article, author Ju Lee Oei of the University of New South Wales noted, “There are consistent indications that prenatal drug exposure, for example, to marijuana, cocaine and opioids, compromises school performance and cognitive skills from as early as 8-9 years of age and until high school.”

Hennessey said she’s heard similar concerns from some teachers.

“They’re telling us they’re seeing challenges in children born with opioids in their body,” she said. “There has to be a new learning style for these kids; they are learning differently.

“There is not an agenda out there for these children.”

Hennessey is the legal guardian of a boy born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, a drug withdrawal condition. She said she wants to bring more awareness to the needs of such children and hopes to hold additional roundtable sessions with other segments of the community, including physicians and parents.

For more information about Angel Arms or the roundtable meeting, call 724-539-7900.