New Programs to Help Drug Addicted Moms

(NETWORK IN)  The victims of Indiana’s opioid epidemic include babies of drug-addicted mothers.

Indiana launched two mother-and-baby pilot programs this year. The state is partnering with the Volunteers of America on clinics in Indy and Winchester, with a third location planned for southern Indiana. That program and a second run by Community Health will focus on babies who became addicted in the womb, and go through withdrawal when they’re born.

But Indiana drug czar Jim McClelland says mothers who pass along their addictions to their babies during pregnancy are only part of the problem. Since feeding the habit becomes an addict’s primary focus, McClelland says addiction often leads to neglect. The Department of Child Services says drug use is linked to two-thirds of its child neglect cases, and just over half the cases in which children are removed from their parents’ homes.

McClelland spoke at the State Department of Health’s annual “Labor of Love” infant mortality summit.

Indiana has struggled with infant mortality rates for decades. Last year, 623 babies in Indiana died before their first birthday — that’s one for every 133 births. The health department says there’s a wide range of contributing factors beyond drug use.