Newborn Drug Testing Varies by State
Drug testing of newborns varies according to state laws. In my state, the testing is somewhat arbitrary and skewed toward low income women. Some of the criteria are previous involvement with DCS, and a social worker on a case involving another child reports it; if a mother is getting pre-natal care and is identified as being at risk for drug use; if a mother doesn't get prenatal care she is targeted and monitored for not taking care of herself or the foetus; when she comes to the hospital for delivery; and, due to the overload of cases of DCS, some mothers charged with child abuse and are required to be clean and sober during a set time limit before she can have her baby back.
There are some small residential programs for mothers who need to become drug free; in some cases their infants are included to facilitate bonding as a motivator to the mom, teach parenting skills and provide social support in being with similar moms (studies show that women who become pregnant w/o stable partner are more socially isolated).
An interesting article from "Real Change News" in Seattle, describes a program there which treated 143 babies last year and is being threatened by major budget cuts.
Quote:
Baby Budget Buster?
In budget-crunching time, home that cares for drug-affected infants is threatened
by Jackie Renn
A Kent home (PICC) that cares for infants born to drug-using mothers is just one of the programs facing budget cuts this legislative session.
What is PICC?
Nobody knows how many babies are born addicted to drugs every year. They're only taken care of when someone is notified: when a social worker calls the hospital, or a doctor notices something wrong with the baby, or a mother steps forward to request special care for the child. One recent study suggests that only one out of four pregnant women who've used opiates, cocaine, or pot during pregnancy are detected by pre-natal or neo-natal caregivers.
Some drug-affected newborns are placed with foster parents trained to look after them. Others come to PICC. Still others, undetected, withdraw from cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin under the harsh lights of a hospital nursery.
Withdrawal symptoms for an infant are: extreme sensitivity to light and noise, body aches, tremors, quivering limbs, stomachache, a pounding headache, restlessness, sleeplessness, dehydration, diarrhea, and sometimes the inability to eat due to being lethargic or not knowing how to work their mouths. A baby's diarrhea can be so acidic that it burns their skin.
At PICC, the babies are closely monitored in a dimly lit, quiet, low-stimulus environment. Plush stuffed animals are propped up in the corners of the cribs; mobiles dangle from above. Everything is colored in soft pastels. All the toys are donated.
Even though newborns are small, the average birth weight of these babies is four pounds about half that of non-affected newborns. Many are born premature. They are tightly swaddled in blankets, to stifle the force of tremors. Opiate-addicted babies are most fragile; they tend to be put on monitors. The withdrawal process for an opiate-addicted baby is generally treated with a low dose of morphine, which calms its stomach and controls the diarrhea.
For the babies withdrawing from non-opiate drugs like cocaine, crack, and amphetamines, "it's all about the environment, having a low stimulus," according to PICC's social worker, Donna Ellis.
Babies are released only after they have withdrawn from the drugs and are no longer in need of medical monitoring. For most babies, that takes about 30 days. Last year, 80 of the babies that left PICC were placed in foster care. The remaining sixty-three of them went home with parents or relatives.
--------------------
"If A equals success, then the formula is A = X + Y + Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut." Albert Einstein
|
Previous 
Index
Next 
Flat
Re: Pregnancy and Medications
Edit 
Reply 
Quote 
