BATTLE FOR BABY BORN ADDICTED TO DRUGS

Shortly after Jenny came into the world 10 months ago, her back arched, her
body stiffened and her shrill cries signaled what she craved: methadone.
For two weeks, she lay in pediatric intensive care at Swedish Medical
Center, being weaned from the drug that she was exposed to in the womb.

Then Jenny, not her real name, went home.

Even though her mother had a long history of drug abuse and Child
Protective Services (CPS) had from time to time removed Jenny's older
brothers from the home, there was no state agency, no court, no neighbor,
no caring physician to look out for Jenny. There isn't even a state law
requiring Jenny's methadone addiction to be reported.

Jenny's six aunts, uncles and a cousin have anguished over her mother's
drug use and their alienation from her. They have anguished also for the
effect the mother's drug addiction has had on the way she raised her two
teenage sons, who were not born addicted, and they wonder what the future
holds for Jenny.

They say CPS, and related agencies are too tolerant of drug-using parents,
fail to monitor infants born addicted and allow children to remain in homes
where drug use is present.

"Who is there to hold (the mother) accountable?" asked Kevin Sylvester,
Jenny's cousin and a child-mental-health worker who is raising one of her
brothers. "I don't understand how a baby can be born addicted to methadone
and not have an open CPS case."

While there are community services to help mothers with drug problems and
their babies, said M. K. Deacon, Children and Family Services regional
adminstrator, it's up to the mothers to seek help.

But drug use in the home, in itself, is not a reason to remove a child, she
said, "unless it is so extreme the parents are passing out all the time and
the child is a baby."

On March 8 and 9, eight months after Jenny was born, her brothers came home
from school and found her alone in the South Seattle house. There was a
note from her father, telling them to feed her because he wouldn't be home
until 11 p.m.

A state Child Welfare Services report says Jenny's mother had been missing
for two weeks, and no one knew where she was. No one knew for sure how long
or how often Jenny had been alone. A relative filed a complaint with CPS.

On March 19, CPS removed the two boys from the home. Years earlier, the
boys had become temporary wards of the state after a number of incidents,
including one where they were left alone just before Christmas when both
parents were missing for days.

But Jenny was not removed. The social worker noted in his report that the
mother was home but was "unable to stand up straight and could not
concentrate." The father told the social worker he would take Jenny to a
baby-sitter.

The state Child Welfare Services documents say that on March 29, a social
worker again visited and found the mother missing. The father, who was
attending school at night, was offered day care for Jenny, but declined it.

At 7:30 p.m. April 19 a relative brought one of Jenny's brothers to the
house to get clothes. They found Jenny alone in a filthy house, wearing a
dirty diaper. The relative called police. The Seattle police officer waited
at the home for an hour and still Jenny's parents had not arrived. She was
placed in a relative's care for 30 days.

The case regarding custody of Jenny is expected to be heard this summer in
King County Juvenile Court.

Jenny's extended family is hoping the court will spare her the fate of her
brothers, who, the family says, have known stability only when they were
allowed to live with their relatives.

The oldest boy has grown up being a caretaker, worrying about bringing food
home and worrying about his mother's safety.

"I just want his high-school years to be fun . . . I want him to be able to
be a teenager," Sylvester, Jenny's cousin, said.

As far as Monica Parikh, Jenny's aunt, is concerned, the state has
conspired to keep the children with their drug-addicted mother who has been
in and out of their lives.

Before children are removed from a home "we first work with the family and
see if there are things we can do to make the child safe and still raised
by this family," Deacon said.

Authorities say that before a child is removed from a home permanently, a
child must be in a life-threatening situation where there is extreme
neglect or abuse that cannot be rectified by the intervention of social
services. They say also there is no set limit to the times a child can be
removed home before the child is taken permanently.

Of the children who are removed from the home, the majority are returned in
seven days and nearly all the rest go home within six weeks, Deacon said.

Termination of parental rights is a difficult process, she said.

Barbara Richards, co-founder and administrator of the Kent Pediatric
Interim Care Center, where drug-addicted infants are treated, said "there
is no one stepping up to protect" drug-addicted babies and their mothers.

"There isn't any help for the mom or the baby unless there is something
suspicious, and if (the hospital or doctor) knew she was in a methadone
program, they don't bother" calling any one to check on the baby.

When a drug-dependent mother is referred into treatment, it's usually for
30 days. But "30 days doesn't address what is causing this addiction,"
Richards said, "and she goes back to her old way of life after the baby is
born."

"I think that everyone needs to keep an open mind and realize it's not
unusual to take several tries at getting off of drugs," regional
administrator for Children and Family Services's Deacon said. "In the
meantime, to what degree is the problem behavior because of the drug use?"

Child Welfare Services records show Jenny's mother has tried treatment many
times and failed.

Her extended family hopes the court will grant custody of Jenny to the aunt
and uncle with whom she now lives.

Jenny at 10 months is progressing slowly but steadily. She is just
beginning to to roll from side to side - something most babies can do
months earlier. She loves to play peek-a-boo, Parikh said.

"The whole area of neglect we're learning a whole lot more about," Deacon
said. "We figure about 85 percent of the neglect cases involve some kind of
substance abuse."