Justin For Justice
Justin Matthew Wolfe · June 11, 1991 – December 19, 2012
Our son, Justin Matthew Wolfe, was 21. His life was cut short by a heroin overdose on December 19, 2012, in our home.
We did not know he was using. He had asked for help with a prescription problem, and he was getting treatment. Nobody was allowed to tell us the rest.
Photograph of Justin
Upload to the Media Library, then set its ID in the j4j_justin_portrait_id option.
Why this exists
Addiction is a disease, and it hides
Justin was a Temple University student and a brother at Alpha Epsilon Pi. He was, as far as we knew, doing well. He hid the rest completely.
Only afterwards, going through his phone, did we understand how much we had missed. We were not being careless. This is what the disease does, and it is why we talk about it plainly now, including the parts that are hard to say out loud.
“Justin had a disease and, unfortunately, everybody missed it. It’s something an addict can hide very well. They can look in your face and tell you the sky is blue when it’s not.” Gregg Wolfe, SJ Magazine
The things we explained away
- Money going missing, in amounts small enough to doubt yourself about.
- Things leaving the house: a laptop pawned, jewelry gone.
- A prescription we knew about, and assumed was the whole story.
- A new group of friends, and fewer straight answers about where he had been.
- Grades that stayed fine. He was, everyone agreed, doing well.
Any one of these has an innocent explanation. That is exactly the problem, and it is why we say it out loud now.
The work so far
What this campaign has actually done
3,000+
teenagers and parents taught in person, through Right In Our Backyard, at churches, synagogues and schools.
Since 2013
Squash The Secret has been run by parents, for parents, in South Jersey. It was founded the year after Justin died.
Shore to Baltimore
The program has partnered with Camden County and traveled across the region to reach families where they are.
The work is run with the Samost Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Southern New Jersey, and Justin’s story has been covered by regional press, including SJ Magazine’s 2015 feature Heroin In The Suburbs.
The campaign
Change the law that kept us in the dark
Once a child turns 18, HIPAA privacy rules mean a medical professional may not tell a parent what they know, even when the parent is paying for the treatment, even when the parent is the one who could intervene, and even when the information could save that young adult’s life.
Justin For Justice asks for a narrow, specific change: allow providers to disclose to the parents of a young adult when disclosure could prevent a death from addiction.
Nobody is asking to take privacy away from patients. What we want is narrower than that. A parent should be able to be told when being told could keep their child alive.
What we do
Two programs, one purpose
Squash The Secret
A group for parents, founded after Justin died. We talk about the hidden dangers of heroin and opiate abuse, the visible signs and the subtle ones, so that our children are not taken from us by surprise.
The point is education. What we want out of it is prevention.
Right In Our Backyard
A panel program run with Samost Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Southern New Jersey. It covers the signs and effects of addiction, how to seek help, how to get out of an uncomfortable situation, how to dispose of prescription narcotics, and how to start the conversation.
We have taught more than 3,000 teenagers and parents at churches, synagogues and schools, and traveled from the Jersey shore to Baltimore.
Worried about someone right now?
You do not have to be sure, and you do not have to say it out loud to anyone yet. Start here.
Remembering Justin
What people said
Justin’s guestbook holds messages from family, from his fraternity brothers at Alpha Epsilon Pi, and from other parents who have lost children. His brother Austin made a tribute film for him.
What you can do
Four ways to take this further
Get help today
Free, confidential, 24 hours a day. You do not need to have decided anything yet.
Learn the signs
The visible ones and the subtle ones, written for parents rather than clinicians.
Bring the program to your school
Right In Our Backyard runs as a panel for schools, churches, synagogues and community groups.
Fund the work
Donations go to the Samost Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Southern New Jersey and fund Right In Our Backyard directly.
Nothing on this page asks you to identify yourself, and nothing here is sold. If you only do one thing, make it the phone call.