At This Camp, Children Of Opioid Addicts Learn To Cope And Laugh
Camp Mariposa in Dayton, Ohio, is designed just for them. The program lets these children share their experiences, learn coping strategies and, most importantly, get to be kids.
Editor's note: To protect the anonymity of the children in this story, we are not using their names.
Children are often called the hidden casualties of the opioid epidemic. They carry a lot of secrets and shame.
The majority of children at Camp Mariposa in Dayton, Ohio, have parents who are addicted to opioids. The nonprofit group Eluna runs camps in 13 states, many of them in areas hardest hit by the opioid crisis. All of these children have experienced trauma, sometimes abuse and neglect, and a growing number are in foster care. These children often struggle to reconcile the loving parents they remember with who they have become.
One of them is 8-year-old C.
"When my sister and
