We are coming undone.

The rate of opioid abuse is surging. Everywhere, it seems.

Rates of poverty remain high, even in some of the state's most prosperous cities.

At the same time, access to mental health care is limited and both the lack of Medicaid expansion and the move to repeal the Affordable Care Act may make a bad situation intolerable.

As more and more families are being ripped apart at the seams.

These are not coincidences. They are actions and reactions, whose ripples flow downstream until they reach to the most vulnerable among us: our children.

Nationally, the numbers of foster children had been falling for several years. Then, between 2012 and 2015, they climbed by 8 percent. In North Carolina, we've seen much worse. The number of children in foster care has jumped by 28 percent, to more than 11,000 today.

Further, more than 24 percent of children under 18 in North Carolina live below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A new state law that raises the age at which children can leave the foster system from 18 to 21 will be helpful. This extends structure and support for those young people as they may enroll in college or seek employment. But, obviously, this is a complex challenge that will require a variety of remedies.

The Children's Home Society of N.C. is responding by channeling resources to where it believes they are most needed. With help from a $3.7 million Duke Endowment grant, the nonprofit will focus on finding suitable foster homes among more families that have the means and desire to adopt children permanently. The four-year goal: to double the number of adoptions and to triple the number of children served by a program called "child-specific recruitment," which seeks permanent homes for children who have spent the longest time in foster care. The Children's Home initiative also will emphasize early intervention with families in crisis to provide aid before it becomes necessary to remove children from their homes. The agency will work as well to return children to their families when it's safe and appropriate. ...

As for the opioid problem, a welcome, if overdue, new state law tightens restrictions on doctors who prescribe painkillers and provides $20 million over two years for opioid abuse treatment.

Above all, public awareness is critical. This disturbing trend is corroding the linchpin of a strong society: strong families.

And it should be treated urgently, like the emergency it is.

REPRINTED FROM THE JACKSONVILLE DAILY NEWS