Bill Designed to Help Drug-Dependent Mothers Raise Babies Passes Senate Committee

A measure aimed at protecting babies born to mothers who used heroin or other opioids during pregnancy was approved by a U.S. Senate committee this week.

The bill calls for better “plans of safe care” to help drug-dependent mothers raise newborns as the babies go through opioid withdrawal, Reuters reports. It would require states to report the number of infants identified annually as born drug-dependent, and the number for whom plans of safe care have been developed. The measure would also require the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to better monitor state policies designed to protect drug-dependent newborns.

The bill will now move to the Senate floor.

The measure was prompted by a Reuters investigation that found 110 cases of children who were exposed to opioids while in the womb and who later died preventable deaths at home. No more than nine states comply with a 2003 law that calls on hospitals to alert social workers whenever a baby is born dependent on drugs, Reuters found.

“This is a major bipartisan agreement that will seek to fill the gaps in this program that Reuters first exposed in their groundbreaking investigation,” said bill co-author Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. “These are our most vulnerable children and we have an abiding obligation to ensure they’re cared for.”

On Tuesday, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said the department is taking a more proactive approach to enforcing a federal law that requires states to report and protect drug-dependent babies. Speaking at a congressional committee hearing, Burwell said, “Specific actions are being taken where we have found there is wrongdoing.” She did not provide details of the plan.