D.C. PLAN TARGETS ALL DRUG USERS' NEWBORNS; CITY WOULD INVESTIGATE ADDICTED
BABIES' CARE

City lawmakers are proposing a major overhaul of the District's child
protection law that would for the first time require D.C. social workers to
open abuse and neglect investigations whenever babies are born addicted to
drugs.

The proposal is significant because infants born to drug-abusing parents
often have been sent home to dangerous situations with little help from
hospitals or child protection workers.

"We can clearly say children are dying because their parents are using
drugs," said Thomas C. Wells, who helped craft the legislation as director
of the Consortium for Child Welfare, a collection of D.C. child advocacy
groups. "This is one way all of us as a city can do something to help these
children."

In a series of articles published last month, The Washington Post found
that 11 newborns died from 1993 through 2000 after hospitals sent them home
to drug-abusing parents and city social workers did not provide follow-up
services.

"I'm outraged," said D.C. Council member Sandy Allen (D-Ward 8), the key
sponsor of the legislation, which she plans to introduce with other council
members in the next few weeks. She said she was disturbed by The Post's
findings on child deaths, which is "one of the reasons we're moving in this
direction."

But some child advocates and social workers say the proposal raises serious
philosophical questions about when children should be separated from their
parents. They also say the bill does not address a pregnant woman's alcohol
use -- which can result in brain damage for the child -- and caution that
the shortage of foster homes will be exacerbated if many drug-addicted
babies are removed from their mothers.

"It's very complex," said one social worker who requested anonymity,
fearing retribution from agency managers for speaking out. "People should
think long and hard about finding more foster homes where we can raise
these babies. Right now, we don't have any places to put them."

Under the legislation, drug-addicted babies would be legally classified as
children "in need of protection." Hospital workers would be required to
call the city's hot line when such children are born. Within 48 hours,
agency social workers would be expected to initiate abuse and neglect
investigations. If abuse or neglect is documented, the babies could be
removed from their mothers.

In addition, the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency and the Department
of Health are working on an internal agreement to care for babies who are
exposed to drugs. Under the proposed agreement, nurses might be required to
visit the homes of all drug-exposed babies. These infants frequently are
premature, with drugs in their blood, low birth weight, respiratory
distress or deformities.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) did not respond to a request for an interview
on the city's child protection system. Spokesman Tony Bullock said the
mayor declined to discuss issues relating to the agency or the Post
investigation. The investigation found that 40 children died from 1993
through 2000 after government workers failed to take key preventive action
or placed children in unsafe homes or institutions.

"He doesn't want to talk about Child and Family Services," Bullock said,
referring questions to Olivia A. Golden, the new agency director. "He's not
in the practice of critiquing newspaper series."

Golden said yesterday she is reviewing the legislation and could not
discuss specific proposals. In general, she said: "The key for these
families is connecting them up with different services so that no one falls
through the cracks."

Golden took over the agency this summer after six years of federal court
control. U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan agreed in May to return the
agency to the District after city officials pledged to make a series of
improvements to the child protection system, long considered one of the
most dysfunctional in the nation.

Some of those improvements have been made. They include the creation of a
separate child protection agency and the end of a decades-long practice of
dividing child abuse and neglect investigations between police officers and
social workers.

Lawmakers are now reviewing the District's child protection laws, which
have not been significantly revised in 24 years. The provision to protect
drug-addicted babies is expected to be the most fiercely debated proposal
when the legislation comes before the D.C. Council.

D.C. hospital workers have long expressed frustration that there is no
District law requiring the city to protect drug-addicted babies. Since
1993, the D.C. Child Fatality Review Committee, which examines child deaths
and recommends improvements, has warned city officials 47 times that
hospitals and social workers need to take steps to protect frail infants,
the Post investigation found. The warnings were not heeded.

For years, some child advocates have been trying to change the law to
classify drug use by pregnant women as neglect or abuse. But social
workers, doctors and city lawyers disagree about how deeply the government
should intervene in these cases. The debate pits those who think that
mothers and children should be separated as a last resort against those who
argue that the government needs to do more to protect children from unsafe
homes.

At the core of the debate is whether drug use by pregnant women should be
considered neglect or abuse under District law. Now, it is not. The
legislation attempts to strike a compromise. While it would require social
workers to investigate these cases, it would give them the authority to
decide whether the drug use constituted abuse or neglect and whether the
baby should remain with the mother.

At least 18 states have passed laws requiring some degree of government
intervention -- ranging from investigations to removal of the child -- when
mothers give birth to drug-exposed infants. Last year, the Ohio Supreme
Court ruled that a baby born addicted to cocaine is an abused child. In
May, a South Carolina woman became the first mother in the nation to be
convicted of homicide by child abuse for giving birth to a stillborn,
crack-exposed baby.