Senators Draft Law Aimed at Helping Parents Addicted to Opioids Raise Their Infants

Two senators on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday they are drafting legislation that would let states use federal foster care funds to help parents who are addicted to opioids raise their babies, Reuters reports.

Committee Chair Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Republican, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, said the measure, called the Family First Act, would be part of a comprehensive effort to address the opioid crisis by increasing prevention, treatment and law enforcement.

Senator Wyden cited a recent Reuters investigation of 110 preventable deaths of babies sent home with parents who were addicted to opioids.

The number of babies treated for the drug-withdrawal syndrome known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) has almost quadrupled in the last decade, according to a study published last year.

Babies born with NAS undergo withdrawal from the addictive drugs their mothers took during pregnancy, such as oxycodone, morphine or hydrocodone. NAS affected seven babies for every 1,000 admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in 2004. That number jumped to 27 infants per 1,000 by 2013.

Last month, responding to the Reuters report, a House committee overseeing child abuse launched an inquiry into the federal government’s enforcement of a law designed to protect drug-dependent newborns.

Reuters found that 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.