Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz, Washington Post Staff Writers

D.C. STUDIES TAKING AWAY DRUG BABIES

Measure Could Delay Treatment, Some Say

Babies born with drugs or alcohol in their blood would automatically be 
taken from their mothers' custody under legislation before the D.C. 
Council, part of wide-ranging revisions proposed for the city's child 
protection system.

Unveiled yesterday, the proposal is dividing the child protection community 
between those who believe babies should be safeguarded at all costs and 
those who call the measure Draconian and say it would result in more 
infants being exposed to drugs and alcohol. They argue that mothers may 
avoid prenatal care out of fear they would lose their children.

Under the measure, sponsored by council member Sandy Allen (D-Ward 8), 
children born exposed to drugs or alcohol would be "presumed" neglected or 
abused. It would require the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency to 
"begin immediate proceedings to remove the child from the home of the 
mother" and would order social workers to open investigations.

"My concern is this: Without this legislation, what will the District of 
Columbia do?" Allen said.

If social workers determine that the mothers cannot care for their babies, 
the city would provide a variety of social services -- including financial 
aid and drug treatment -- in an effort to reunite the family. If those 
services failed, the babies would remain in foster care.

The D.C. Council has been considering a change in the law that would 
require city social workers to open abuse and neglect investigations when 
babies are born exposed to drugs.

But the new proposal goes further. If approved, it would be among the 
toughest provisions of its kind in the nation. Only five states have passed 
similar laws.

City officials said yesterday that something should be done. But several 
testified that the proposal could deter mothers from seeking prenatal care 
and drug treatment and put more babies into an already strained foster care 
system.

Deputy Mayor Carolyn N. Graham said the city estimates that 1,500 -- or 20 
percent -- of the 7,500 women who give birth in the District each year use 
drugs or alcohol during their pregnancies. Rather than remove those babies 
from their mothers, she said, the city should try to provide mothers with 
drug rehabilitation and monitoring to make sure the infants are safe.

Graham and Child and Family Services chief Olivia A. Golden said they are 
working with the city's health department to draft a "memorandum of 
understanding" that would outline steps to be taken when a drug-or 
alcohol-exposed baby is born and how the city would assist the mother and 
her child. They, along with health director Ivan C.A. Walks, said the city 
could protect children and turn the lives of mothers around without 
breaking up families.

But Allen questioned whether such a memorandum would be sufficient.

"When this administration goes away, the [memorandum of understanding] will 
wind up in a desk drawer," she said.

Others expressed deep reservations about Allen's proposal.

"It goes too far," said Elizabeth Siegel, a member of the Child Fatality 
Review Committee, which reviews deaths of D.C. children.

Wyndi Anderson, an organizer for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, 
testified that the proposal unfairly targets poor, minority women. She 
argued that pregnant women would avoid seeing doctors.

"I cannot, in good faith, stand by and not speak out when policies will 
serve only to target and punish the poor addict and the addict of color, 
offering no real solutions," Anderson said.

A recent Washington Post investigation found that from 1993 to 2000, 40 
children died after government workers failed to take preventive actions or 
placed the children in unsafe homes or institutions. Eleven of those 
children were drug-exposed infants who died after being sent home to 
parents whose troubles were known by hospitals and social workers.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom