Bill would protect addicted mothers who seek treatment
COLUMBUS — Rep. Doug Green said he has watched the struggles of an addicted mother separated from her drug-dependent infant firsthand.
Green, R-Mount Orab, and his wife are taking care of their great-great-niece, 15-month-old Maiden, because Maiden’s mother was barred from contact. Maiden was diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome, essentially suffering drug withdrawal in the hospital, and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“Mom, who was staying with us, was kicked to the curb. She had to leave home because the court prohibited her from contacting the baby,” said Green, a former Brown County auditor. “I, to this day, scratch my head as to why.”
A bill, announced Wednesday by Green and Rep. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta, would protect mothers addicted to drugs from losing contact with their children as long as they enroll in treatment — medication-assisted or otherwise — before the end of their 20th week of pregnancy. Those who seek help after that point could get dispensation from a judge to participate.
County children services workers would not file a complaint simply because the mother has a drug or alcohol problem. They could, however, remove a child because of other circumstances, such as not complying with treatment or an unsafe home, Green said.
Doctors and nurses reported at least 1,900 infants showed symptoms of withdrawal or exposure to illegal substances between 2012 and 2014, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Not all of those infants were removed from the custody of their parents, spokesman Ben Johnson said.
Children services workers' first priority is to keep children safe, even if that means removing them from the home, said Angela Sausser, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. But they also support parents making an effort to obtain treatment, she said.
"We want to be very supportive of mothers, especially if they are actively involved in treatment," Sausser said.
Mothers would learn about the option through their doctors, children services workers or the courts, Green said. Most of the treatment would be covered through Medicaid, and pregnant women would be prioritized for that money; the proposal provides no new money for treatment, though.
The lawmakers hope the option will reduce the number of women giving birth to addicted babies and eliminate the fear some feel about going to a doctor, who is required to report drug use to children services. The proposal has dozens of bipartisan co-sponsors.
It’s a huge problem in Ohio, where neonatal abstinence syndrome increased 750 percent since 2004. On average, there were five drug-dependent babies admitted to Ohio hospitals each day of 2013 with 87 percent of them on Medicaid, according to a recent report from the Ohio Department of Health.
Some children services agencies have seen their caseloads balloon by 300 to 400 percent in recent years because of the opiate epidemic, Sausser said. Treatment takes longer and relapses are more frequent than other drugs, making it more challenging to safely return children to their homes, she said.
“The goal for Maiden’s Law is to provide healthier outcomes for children who are born to addicted mothers,” Green said.
As for Maiden, her mother has been clean for 10 months and recently returned to college, where she is studying to become an addiction counselor. Maiden’s mother had supervised visits with her child and is working toward unsupervised visits.
jbalmert@gannett.com
Twitter: @jbalmert