Child Abuse

[RainDreamer]

This is a really tough subject and one of the saddest things I see ...... makes me the most mad too.

It's not really something you would think you'd see really in the NICU, as all or our babies are "new" ..... they haven't been home yet, therefore the parents can't abuse them.

I'm talking about moms that abuse their babies in utero.

That's legal, correct?

Mom can do all kinds of drugs, that's ok. At the worst, the baby will be taken into CPS custody (and even that's not always the case).

I actually had a discussion about this a few weeks ago with one of our baby's family members. The mom had done all kinds of drugs during the pregnancy and therefore the extended family was going to be taking the baby. The uncle of the baby had brought up the questions of why nothing is done to these mothers for abusing their babies. These babies suffer, it's abuse. The mom will just continue doing it, as she has repeatedly, nothing is ever done to stop her. He brought up a good point, one of which I've been pondering over.

We had another mom that was a cocaine addict and also had placenta previa. She had been hospitalized for bleeding, but left AMA. A few days later medics brought her in as she had abrupted at home. Mother and baby were VERY critical and were both not expected to make it. Baby was brain dead. Mom ended up pulling through. We had the baby on the vent ..... the docs talked to mom about taking the baby off and she said "I can't do this to my baby, I can't make the decision to take her off". UGH!! What?! This kid was ~34 weeks. The only reason she was brain dead was because of mom's stupid choices. How can she say she can't make these decisions, when clearly she is the reason her baby is like that? Ended up taking the baby off, end of story. I won't go into too many more details, but mom had many other kids, another of which was brain damaged due to mom's poor choices.

So, where does it end? Are there any states that do anything to these mothers? Do the babies have any rights to health and protection? Or since this damage is done in utero, then nothing can be done?

[4jen]

I recall listening to a program on NPR about a recovering addict who had a service where she would recruit female drug addicts and prostitues to go get a permanant (tubal lig) or semi perm (IUD) form of birth control and she would pay them like $500. I wish I could remember the specifics however it was a bit back. Interesting concept.

[BlueRidgeHomeRN]

the voluntary, non-government program was called k.r.a.c.k.....forget the whole acronym but it invloved "keeping all kids off drugs" in a catchy turn of phrase. the program gave $200-$300 to addicts who had tubal ligations.

ironically, the founder was labled a racist, as most of the women who took up this offer were black....yet the founder had herself adopted several minority children who had been born addicted, which was her reason for setting up the program.

maybe someone more tech savvy can find archived information and post it for us...

[4jen]

the voluntary, non-government program was called k.r.a.c.k.....forget the whole acronym but it invloved "keeping all kids off drugs" in a catchy turn of phrase. the program gave $200-$300 to addicts who had tubal ligations.

ironically, the founder was labled a racist, as most of the women who took up this offer were black....yet the founder had herself adopted several minority children who had been born addicted, which was her reason for setting up the program.

maybe someone more tech savvy can find archived information and post it for us...

yes that is it! thanks. :)

[arm26c]

It is called Project Prevention-- Children Require a Caring Community.

The website is www.projectprevention.org

[UTVOL3]

I haven't gotten through this whole topic yet but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has provided their insight as of late. (I know the thread has been going for awhile.)

I am from TN and I have seen a lot of misuse of methadone. (meaning poor management by the prescriber.) Most of the moms are not told how methadone will affect their baby and a lot of times thry are lied to about it they ask. One of our neos even met with the medical directors of one of the clinics just to inform him and kind of ask him to warn the moms, just a little, of what could occur. I mean she didn't want him to order a NICU consult for every one of these ladies, but just to kind of educate them on what was likely to occur, how lng the baby would stay in the hospital, etc. He basically told her to shove it.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Aja, whoever is prescribing methadone at our local clinic must be similar. These mothers come in and some of them have absolutely no clue what is going to happen with their babies and that their babies won't be going home w/ them. It makes me mad. The ones that do know, it's because of the grapevine, not because any actual patient education is going on.

[Adams_Mommy_07]

I am staunchly pro-life so I agree one hundred percent about the need to charge these women who endanger the lives of their unborn children.

Doing drugs is a crime and these babies die as a result of a crime therefore it should be reprehensible before the law without regard to abortion rights. It is no different than murdering a mother with child and charging the murderer with two counts.

Since abortion is not a criminal act it really is a moot point in this argument. Any illegal actions that result in the death of an unborn child is a different story.

I think that the determiner of human rights *should* be the point of viability, which thankfully gets earlier in gestation. If a baby has the potential to live without the mother it should be given this opportunity over no opportunity at all. The woman MUST birth the child regardless of whether she is terminating the baby or not, might as well give the baby a chance to live. As far as I am concerned abortion or death as a result of drug use of the unborn child past this point is arguably criminal.

[Atheos]

Doing drugs is a crime and these babies die as a result of a crime

Technically, doing drugs is NOT a crime. The crime is in the possession or distribution of said drugs. 'Doing' a drug has never been considered a crime. In fact, the reason the test people for drug use is because positive drug tests imply possession.

That results in a possession charge and NOT a 'doing' or usage charge.

Another problem is that the mother may not be aware she is pregnant while and/or due to the drug use. The last problem is that when the mother becomes aware, even if she wants to stop, it doesn't mean she will be able to stop...

[TJG618]

Hi there! I'm pretty new to this forum but not to NICU and I couldn't help but post my own 2 cents... I was just asking our SW staff last week why moms who abuse drugs aren't charged with child abuse? I understand that we are stretched to the maximum as far as courts, social services, foster care etc... but there has to be some sort of accountability for their actions. I am not really hard core against rehab'd moms regaining custody of their kids (no one starts out life wanting to be an addict!) but I get so frustrated sometimes.

Currently we have 11 out of 27 babies on methadone. One of our recent transfers is a baby born with a blood alcohol of 0.15. (Bilat GrIII IVH, NEC, PPHN) His mom is G18 P15!!! and she is constantly drunk either when she calls for updates or attempts to visit. When she does get to visit she is hypercritical of his care, freaking out on everyone if there's the tiniest bit of spit up on his face or if his diaper is wet when she arrives. Incredibly, we are considering sending him home with her once she completes her 8 week ETOH rehab. Some one joked that we should all pitch in and get her a gift certificate for a tubal! (not that we don't appreciate the job security...) All joking aside though we have a serious issue with chemically-dependent newborns that isn't going to go away soon. Any suggestions for not getting too bummed or bitter? Sorry for the long post. I guess I needed to vent a little too.:omy: