There can be no argument that children have the best chance at lifelong success if they are guided by strong role models and strict boundaries in their formative years.

That’s why we are so saddened when we must publish news stories in the Tribune Chronicle about parents who fail in their responsibilities. Sometimes those include reports of toddlers left wandering in the streets without supervision or children left locked alone inside vehicles.

Within these news pages there sometimes is coverage of horrific incidents of child neglect or abuse.

Last Tuesday, we published an especially troubling story about a parent who overdosed just before midnight Sunday night inside a southwest side Warren home. He was pronounced dead at Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

The man had been discovered by three minor children who were home at the time. A woman who was with the man also overdosed, but was revived successfully by responding police officers using the opioid-reversal drug naloxone.

A police report from the horrible night indicates that a boy called 9-1-1 at 11:57 p.m. to report that his parent was overdosing. Responding officers found a woman on the couch and a man on the kitchen floor. Both were unresponsive.

With way more knowledge of illegal drug use than any child ever should have, the children told police the only drugs they have seen their parents use were “weed and acid.”

Officers began giving the man cardiopulminary resuscitation until EMT crews arrived. The man was transported to Trumbull Regional Medical Center, as the children watched. When their father was wheeled out, a 911 dispatch report indicated they stood at the door weeping. The document did not report the children’s ages.

Officers collected evidence at the scene that included a scale with a “baggie tip with white residue” on it on a living room table, and then sent their report to Trumbull County Children Services.

The whole sad incident begs the question: What chance do kids have when they know as much about the illegal drugs their parents abuse as about anything else in life?

They now must face the future without a father and with the memory of how they found him in a lifeless mass as his life was ending needlessly.

It is time that parents wake up. Parents and guardians must get smart about the things they are teaching their children. They must make better choices in life, and most of all, they must get the help they so urgently need.

Help is available. In Trumbull County, those who are addicted may learn about treatment options and programs to get help by calling 2-1-1. The first step is simply asking. We urge you to do that before it’s too late.

editorial@tribtoday.com