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.