Innocent Victims

Innocent Victims

The news came one late afternoon. My girlfriend told me that Naomi had given birth. Instead of feeling joyous over the birth of my one time friend’s child, I felt both saddened and angry about this occasion. So I asked the inevitable question, “Is it OK?” The response to my question was just what I had hoped would not happen.

Naomi is a heroin addict. She had just given birth to a premature baby boy that was addicted to the same drug his mother was shooting up. This innocent little guy was born with what doctors say is a mild form of brain damage. For the first few weeks of his life, he had to be treated with methadone to combat his withdrawal symptoms. Despite the severe damage Naomi caused to her baby, she still walks the streets of Carlsbad looking for her fix. The last I had heard of the little boy was that he was taken by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care waiting for a home.

Mothers who prenatally expose their babies to hard illegal drugs cause serious damage to these children and should be criminally prosecuted. The physical, neurological, and behavioral effects on babies caused by drug use during pregnancy are disheartening. In spite of this blatant disregard for the child’s life, it is not considered a form of child abuse in most of our states. If a mother injected drugs into the tiny arm of her baby, causing permanent brain damage or death, surely the mother would be arrested and prosecuted. Yet that is exactly what addicted mothers do when they consume drugs throughout their pregnancy.

In California, when a woman gives birth to baby with illegal drugs in its system, not much happens to the mother. According to an official from San Diego County’s Child Protective Services, the baby is placed on hold and is put in foster care. The case is then referred to family court for review. A judge then looks at the extent of the mother’s drug use and decides if it is safe to return the child to its mother. Depending on the amount of drug abuse, a mother is referred to a drug treatment program. If the mother completes her assigned program, she is reunited with her child. If she does not complete the program, the baby is then left in foster care and goes up for adoption.