Magazine Features Children Who Grew Up Around Crack

Represent, a magazine for and by foster children, has published a special issue that includes articles by young writers who were born to mothers addicted to crack cocaine, the Columbia Journalism Review reported Sept. 9.

Represent editor Kendra Hurley and co-editor Nora McCarthy decided to do a special issue after a number of young people approached them about writing articles about how crack has ruined their families.

"I remember hearing about crack babies and how they were doomed," said Hurley. "I suddenly realized these were those kids."

The cover of the special edition magazine features a photograph of the writers under the headline: 'Crack Babies -- All Grown Up.'

"Why shouldn't we stand up and show our faces? We rose above the labels. I wanted to reach other kids who had been labeled and let them know it doesn't mean you can't succeed," said Antwaun Garcia, 20, who dropped out of school in the fourth grade because of constant taunting from classmates. He returned to school and is now a journalism student at LaGuardia Community College in New York City.

Although scientific evidence has shown that babies born to crack-addicted mothers often lag behind in development, the writers wanted to show that they can be successful in school and life. Today, children born to mothers addicted to methamphetamine are being stereotyped in a similar manner as crack babies were a decade ago.

A recent Associated Press article reported that an "epidemic" of meth-exposed children in Iowa is stunting infants' growth, damaging their brains, and leaving them predisposed to delinquency. In May, a Fox News story said that meth babies "could make the crack baby look like a walk in the nursery."

Although research is disputing those claims, crack children have learned that scientific evidence isn't always enough to change the media's focus on a story.

Source: www.jointogether.org