Children Requiring A Karing Community (Crack) Essay, Research Paper

CRACK

CRACK, Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, is a program that was established to sterilize drug addicts. Barbara Harris started this program because she was frustrated by the politicians unwillingness to do anything about the rising number of babies being born addicted to drugs, in particular crack cocaine. Crack babies do not have a good chance for a long, happy life. Many babies are either stillborn or die within the first few years of life. The babies that survive often suffer from lifelong problems, including physical handicaps, learning disabilities, and social-emotional disabilities. After birth, the babies go through extreme withdrawals. They suffer from the shakes, sleeplessness, and constant vomiting, just to name a few.

This is a prime example of the wrongs of few affecting the many, because this is a problem that affects all Americans. Hard working taxpayers fund welfare, not the drug-addicted mothers living on welfare. Some women have a child every year just to increase the amount of money they get each month. Many Americans are angered by this situation, but the politicians refuse to listen. There have been attempts to reform the welfare system, but people always find a way to take advantage of the situation. This is why Barbara Harris decided to step in and these women an alternative.

Barbara Harris is definitely on to something. This program is a great idea because it eliminates the birth of many, but not all, drug addicted babies. So far sixty-one women have been pain $200 to follow Harris’ program. These women have experienced a total of 446 pregnancies, with only 232 resulting in a live birth. Numbers like this are proof that some sort of action is required, and Barbara Harris is the only one willing to take that action.

Harris has come under a lot of fire for her program. Many critics point out that these women are on drugs and therefore are not making informed decisions. Law requires a thirty-day consent period and counseling before any procedure is preformed. The government can do so because the program does receive federal funds in addition to donations from the public. Many of Harris’ more outspoken critics feel that this is insufficient because these women are willing to do anything for the $200 they get paid for participating. Harris has something to say to her critics:

“The people who yell the loudest aren’t the ones

raising these kids. Unless you’re willing to take the babies into your home for 18 years, your

opinion means nothing to me.”

Several women who have participated in this program are more than willing to publicly defend it. One such woman, Sharon Golding, used the $200 she received for getting her tubes tied to clean up her life. She is now drug-free, holding down a job, and has custody of three of her fourteen children. This woman sold her body for twelve years to pay for her addiction to crack cocaine. Eight of her fourteen children were born addicted to the drug. Just think, had this program been around twenty years ago, maybe those babies would not have had to suffer.

Harris’ solution seems to be the only feasible solution to decrease the number of drug-addicted babies born in America each day. Harris has decided to stand up and take charge by starting this program. With so many other things going on unchecked in American society today, it’s amazing that the critics jump on the one woman trying to change things.