No smoking in your own home!

A new law might be coming to Colorado for fost-adopt homes as it has come to several other states:

No smoking in your own home.

Will the caseworker be checking for ashtrays when doing your adoption home study?

If you are a smoker, you’d better check in your state.

I’m not a smoker, and not a fan of smokers, but I do find it interesting that the State can tell you if you can smoke or not in your own house.

Here’s an interesting stat:

In at least 18 states, courts have ruled that subjecting a child to tobacco smoke is a factor which SHOULD be considered in deciding custody.

It does make sense. After all, to be a foster-adopt approved home, they can tell you exactly where to place the fire extinguisher, what type of bedding to have (if your caseworker is nutso) and how to lock up your medicine.

The state tells you where and when your children go to the doctor, schools, and if you can take them to visit your out of county cousin.

They are involved in all aspects of the child’s life and it does sometimes feel if they are intruding in your home and personal life as well.

So, what is great about this law already passed in Vermont, Oklahoma, Washington and Maine, and soon to be passed in Texas?

Simply put, it is better for the kids.

No smoke to get in their lungs, no smoking to promote a bad influence. Of course if you have older children – like teenagers, they may be smoking anyway, but they’ve always had to go outside to smoke. (They are underage and you can’t allow them to break the law in your home).

So, as part of your home study, don’t be surprised if you are asked to quit smoking.

After adoption? It’s your choice.

But I highly recommend against it.

Here’s why:

Children face a higher risk than adults of the negative effects of second hand smoke. Not only is a child’s body still developing physically, but their breathing rate is faster than that of adults. Adults breathe in and out approximately 14 to 18 times a minute, where newborns can breathe as many as 60 times a minute. Up until a child is about 5 years old, the respiratory rate is quite fast; usually between 20 and 60 breaths per minute.

When the air is tainted with cigarette smoke, young, developing lungs receive a higher concentration of inhaled toxins than do older lungs. And think about it: young children have less control over their surroundings than the rest of us. Babies can’t move to another room because the air is smoky. They depend on us to provide them with clean air to breathe…..more here …

More on this proposal in Texas

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