Results: Sesame Street Takes On Addiction And How It Affects Children And Families

With a staggering 5.7 million children under the age of 11 living in households with a parent who deals with substance abuse, Sesame Street is doing their small part in helping children navigate this serious problem by tackling the opioid crisis. Karli, a green Muppet with two yellow pigtails, was introduced in May as a character in foster care who still has a relationship with her biological mother. On Wednesday, Sesame Workshop announced that the show would be exploring Karli's backstory, which includes that her mother has an addiction. Elmo and other characters will "learn what Karli is going through and help their friend to cope" in videos and other materials available through the Sesame Street in Communities program — a free online resource intended to help parents, caregivers, social workers, therapists and others working with children in these situations. Do you think that a children's show is the right place to highlight this topic?

Sesame Street feels that this topic is just as important for the parents who watch the show with their children and if a parent experiencing addiction "can take one thing away when they watch it with their kids... then that serves the purpose." It may have been a long time since you were in this situation, or very recently, but have you ever watched a TV show or movie with your children, where the issues talked about hit "home" for you?

Although the Sesame Street in Communities program has been praised for helping young children, their parents and caregivers, its materials have been criticized. In August, the advocacy group Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), which is run by autistic individuals, announced it was cutting ties with Sesame Street after the show's communities program aired public service announcements featuring Julia, the first Muppet with autism. The PSAs encourage parents to check out the "Screen for Autism" initiative by the nonprofit Autism Speaks, which includes a resource called the 100 Day Kit for parents of newly diagnosed autistic children. The kit encourages parents to blame family stress on their autistic child, spend time with their non-autistic children remembering how things were better before their sibling's diagnosis and to go through the five stages of grief after learning that a child is autistic, "as they would if the child had died." The disability community has been critical of Autism Speaks for a long time due to its harmful approach. Do you agree with ASAN's cutting ties with Sesame Street for this reason?

Sesame Street has long been a front runner in highlighting important issues and presenting them to children in a language they can understand. Did you and your children watch Sesame Street on a regular basis growing up?