Pubdate: Fri, 16 Mar 2001
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2001 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact:  401 N. Wabash, Chicago IL 60611
Feedback: http://www.suntimes.com/geninfo/feedback.html
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Author: Brenda Warner Rotzoll
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

BLACK NEWBORNS LIKELIER TO BE DRUG-TESTED: STUDY

Black babies are more likely than white babies to be tested for cocaine and 
to be taken away from their mothers if the drug is present, according to 
the March issue of the Chicago Reporter.

The monthly publication on race and poverty surveyed the 53 public and 
private hospitals in Cook County that deliver babies. Only five would 
provide statistics about the number of babies they test.

Of those that responded, two Chicago hospitals serving primarily black, 
low-income women said they test every baby. Two suburban hospitals that 
serve primarily middle-class whites said they test fewer than 2 percent of 
newborns.

Black babies in Illinois are more likely than white babies to be taken from 
their mothers and placed in foster care because of exposure to drugs while 
in the mother's womb, the Reporter found.

In the year ending June 30, 2000, the Illinois Department of Children and 
Family Services took 39 percent of 5,851 drug-exposed black babies into 
foster care, but only 27 percent of 1,035 white babies.

"I have worked here for a long time, and the most compelling explanation is 
that it is evidence of bias," said John Goad, associate deputy director of 
child protection for DCFS in Cook County.

Illinois has no law or policy dictating which babies should be tested for 
drug exposure in the womb, leaving the decision to each hospital. No 
government agency tracks who is being tested.
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