(ConservativeFreePress.com) – Barbara Drennan, the founder of Pediatric Interim Care Center which is located 20 miles from Seattle, is used to taking care of babies that have been exposed to drugs. As she shared in most cases the babies have between two to five drugs within their system. Oftentimes they might even have more.
Since PICC was founded in 1990, Drennen and her staff have provided withdrawal care to at least 3,300 babies that have been sent to the Care Center by the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families. However, Drennen is now concerned that a new state policy that would no longer make it mandatory for hospitals to report all cases of substance-exposed newborns could potentially endanger infants.
However, the state has said that the new policy is aiming to continue keeping children safe and to stop families from being separated for no reason. Previously clinicians were required to inform CPS about all newborns that suffered from prenatal alcohol or drug exposure. This will now change as families will be able to access these services on a voluntary basis without having the cases reported to CPS if there are no reasons to be concerned about the infant’s safety.
The state’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) early learning program manager Alissa Copeland has argued there are not many changes in the cases that they are reporting, the only really major change is that those families that don’t meet the threshold for safety concerns will now be provided with a voluntary pathway instead of being reported. She argued that this is not something that was previously available.
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