Addiction/CPS question

[wowhead]

I'm clueless about this stuff but this one has me baffled.  Cousin has a 7 month old. I just found out today that the baby was born addicted to Suboxone and spent 2 weeks in the hospital being weaned (cousin and I are not close.)  I thought CPS stepped in with addicted babies but he was never removed from her custody.  Is that normal?

I just found out that she's pregnant again.  I hope she'll clean herself up and this one won't be addicted but the only time she's been clean in the last 10 years is when she was in prison.  

[Deleted]

It completely depends on the laws and regulations in the county of birth. They can vary from one county to the next in regards to what happens if a child is born with a positive drug screen. I'm sure you might be able to google the info for your county.

[wowhead]

Oct 21, 2014 15:55:08 GMT -5 aeg511 said:

Well, sometimes people take Suboxone to help them get off heroin. Perhaps they thought she was being proactive by trying to stay clean?

It's a prescribed medication.

I hope so.  I didn't even think of that.  With her history I have a really hard time not assuming the worst.  

[statlerwaldorf]

My cousin's son was born addicted to heroin. CPS was involved, but he was not removed from her care. She had to have random drug tests for a while and was not allowed to be alone with the baby for the first 30 days. She had family members step in to supervise her.

Her first child was born addicted to methadone, but CPS was not involved. She was being prescribed methadone after quitting heroin. Methadone was supposed to be safer for the fetus than quitting heroin cold turkey.

Another cousin was in jail on drug charges when she gave birth to her son. His father went after full custody and was eventually awarded full custody, but I'm sure the fact that she was in jail and could not take care of him played a big role.

[andreajersey]

Depends on the state. In New Jersey, addiction alone is not considered proof of abuse/neglect even when an infant is born exposed..

[lilafowler]

I'm not an expert but I think that they try to do as much as they can to improve the situation before taking custody away if it's not an "emergency" situation.

It's sad no matter what. I hope she gets her life together-addiction sucks.

[kristie]

Suboxone and methadone are typically prescribed, and not illegal. So even though most babies will have to go through withdrawals there is not a thing that can be done about it.

Also a lot of pain clinics tell pregnant women it is perfectly safe for baby and will even try to increase doses during pregnancy. The whole pain clinic as a way to help with addiction is a fucking racket.

[kristie]

I live in tennessee which passed that stupid illegal drug use is assault law. The lawmaker that made it kept referring to babies that have to be weaned off of whatever mom was taking with morphine as her example of why this law should be passed. It doesn't apply to legal drugs, which is what the problem is 95% of the time. So now they go after woman with marijuana in their systems like it has the same detrimental affects on a newborn.

[shopgirl07]

Unfortunately many, many babies born addicted are sent home with their parents. I recently read a statistic for MA, and it seems the majority of babies were not removed from custody.

[kitty63]

Suboxone is prescribed by a doctor for opioid addiction. So hopefully she was working with medical professionals and was being monitored to make sure she wasn't using anything else.

[thebreakfastclub]

My dad's wife's grand daughter had a baby born on suboxone. The baby spent a month in the hospital.

Where I live, CPS is automatically involved going forward. So, they visited the home regularly, made sure there was adequate food, a crib and baby supplies, etc. It is not an automatic loss of custody.

The child is 1 now and is still with her mom. The dad is in jail.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 10:20:05 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

Isn't suboxone what they give people to wean them off of heroin or opiates or similar?

Yes. Well not always necessarily wean, but to prevent opiate withdrawal. It's especially important to try to prevent withdrawal in pregnant patients. 

[livinitup]

The threshold for removing a child from their parent(s) is always "imminent danger". Back in the '80's at the beginning of the crack epidemic, mothers were giving birth to cocaine addicted babies who were removed from their care. Since then, and especially today, identified children are treated and then supervised in the home with supports to keep the child safe and the mother able to maintain custody. There are recommendations where the child is not safe and cannot remain with the mother, even with supervision/support. In those cases, it is reviewed as what is in the "best interest" of the child including foster care placement or transfer of custody.   All done with the review and approval of a family court judge.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

I had a friend whose niece gave birth to a baby who was addicted to opiates. She had to begin a process of inpatient treatment in her ninth month and then keep regularly scheduled meetings with a social worker and do addiction counseling but she was allowed to keep re baby. She did lose custody of her later because of prostitution and heroin, though.

[auntie]

The medication is prescribed to treat opiate addiction.

It is expected that the neonate will be born addicted but it is considered the lesser of many evils- without Suboxone your cousin may have exposed herself and the fetus to more dangerous choices. Trying to go "cold turkey" around Suboxone and Methadone can result in fetal seizures, brain damage and/or death.

Being addicted is not always grounds for removal, especially if she's being treated professionally (if she's on Suboxone, she is) and is safely supervised. One of my niece's friends from high school managed to get off heroine after the birth of her DD. Her child was born addicted, now she's kicking ass in kindie while her mom is wrapping up a second masters and applying to PhD programs for addiction counseling.

[auntie]

Oct 22, 2014 9:38:12 GMT -5 kitty63 said:

Suboxone is prescribed by a doctor for opioid addiction. So hopefully she was working with medical professionals and was being monitored to make sure she wasn't using anything else.

Suboxone contains Narcon (naloxone) which blocks the effects of other opiates. This helps protect against the temptation using other drugs of this class since they won't get high.