Pubdate: Wed, 27 Mar 2002
Source: Royal Gazette, The (Bermuda)
Contact:  2002 The Royal Gazette Ltd.
Website: http://www.theroyalgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2103
Author: Karen Smith

ALARM SOUNDED OVER ADDICT BABIES

Grave concern was voiced yesterday over the sharp increase in the number of 
drug-addicted babies born on the Island during the first three months of 
this year.

Carolyn Webbe, coordinator of foster care for the Department of Family and 
Child Services, said already this year eight babies had been born with 
cocaine addictions to drug-abusing mothers.

She said it was a steep increase on last year and led to fears that more 
young women were out there alone, hooked on drugs and expecting children.

Mrs. Webbe said one addicted woman in Bermuda had had four babies taken 
from her and put into care during recent years.

Another mother, she said, had had two babies which had both died soon after 
birth, due to premature births brought on by the addictions.

"There appears to have been an increase this year and we don't know why", 
said Mrs. Webbe.

"There has been about eight this year, and most of the mothers have had 
children before that have been taken into care.

"The majority of them take cocaine - it's a serious addiction. We see a 
number of them come into hospital, about to go into labour, and they are 
high. They take drugs literally right up to the point of the birth.

"We have had new born babies test positive for drugs before, and many times 
babies are born with withdrawal.

"Most of the babies are premature and so have a very low birth weight, so 
they need a lot of special care and attention."

Mrs. Webbe said as soon as the babies were born, the department took them 
from their mothers. Once they were well enough to leave the special care 
baby unit, they were placed in foster care.

The mothers are given three to six months to clean themselves up before 
they can apply to have their babies back.

If they fail, they face the possibility of losing their children forever.

However, the problem of drug addiction in babies does not stop there. It 
can take weeks and months to get a baby through drug withdrawal, as well as 
the complications brought on by its low birth weight. And the problems can 
last a lifetime.

Supervisor of the department, Glenda Edwards, said drug addiction in 
pregnant mothers often led to traumatised, sickly and crying babies, as 
well as learning difficulties and behaviour problems in later years; 
although, that was not true in every case.

She said it made finding suitable foster parents difficult, as the babies 
needed round the clock attention and constant stroking and nurturing, and 
had to be placed immediately with stable family homes.

Mrs. Edwards said the babies were not the only cause for concern. She said 
when many of the addicted women arrived in the labour ward, they were 
undernourished, in bad health and had received no prenatal care in the 
months prior.

She said: "There is only so much we can do because we can't make people 
come to see us beforehand, and we can't make anyone go on a treatment 
programme. It would be so much better if we could get them on treatment 
programmes before the birth.

"But the clinic has literally gone out and brought women in when we have 
received reports about women we have been involved with previously.

"I think we really need the community's help. It would help if people 
called us and made us aware if they saw a pregnant women out there using 
drugs. We need the family's help too."

Mrs. Webbe added: "In the mid-90s the problem of babies being born to 
addicts was high, but it received a lot of publicity and the problem 
subsided for a while.

"However, in the last three months, we have had enough incidents to cause 
concern again. We are back where we were."

Yesterday, at the Alternatives To Incarceration (ATI) training conference 
at the Southampton Princess Hotel, Mrs. Webbe asked speaker Melody Heaps, 
the president of a major drug rehabilitation centre in the US, how long 
drug addicted mothers should be given before they lose their children 
altogether.

Ms Heaps said women were the hardest client when it came to drug addiction 
and said Bermuda should expect difficulties when trying to deal with them.

And she said in the US, women were given opportunities to get clean while 
still having their children.

She said: "Women, as we have discovered, are very very difficult to treat. 
They regularly have been abused, if not sexually abused, and have no skills.

"Having children creates some sense of a relationship (for them). We have 
had the explosion of the addicted baby."

She said in the US, some drug treatment programmes allow babies, and other 
systems enable mothers to live at home with their babies, but case 
managers, or coaches, visit them every day.

And she said sometimes centres can be convinced to allow infants in as well.

She added: "It's really critical that you create systems that allow for 
that. It's one of the most difficult things you will deal with."

Mrs. Webbe said she hoped Bermuda could develop similar programmes where 
children were included, and said the department was currently looking at a 
home-based programme, where mothers could return home with their babies.

She said Fair Havens, which offers a programme for addicted women and 
pregnant women, was also looking to expand to include babies. Last night, 
Health Minister Nelson Bascome said he had no idea why Bermuda had seen an 
increase in the number of drug babies this year, but he urged sexually 
active women on drugs to visit the clinic in Victoria Street for advice and 
free contraception.

He said: "The first concern is that the habits of an addict are very 
volatile because they are exposing themselves to a number of diseases - 
diseases that could be life-threatening, especially, HIV and Aids.

"If someone addicted to drugs is having sex, they should go to the clinic 
and have the proper contraception given to them. There are many methods 
they can use. There are people they can talk to to protect themselves and 
so they don't have the responsibility of being impregnated and having a 
child to care for.

"I would ask family members to assist, as well. If drug addicts do become 
pregnant I urge them, or their friends and family, to make sure they seek 
help from the clinic. They do not have to go without help.

"This has to become a community issue. We would ask that people seek help 
for them."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager