Pregnant women going to parties and smoking cocaine, marijuana, and injecting LSD have no clue what they are doing to their bodies or even to their fetus that is developing. Who would think that a crack mother giving birth to an infant may have serious affects down the road? The crack epidemic took a hit in the 1980’s in the United States (Reese 2004). Is the government in today’s society doing enough to help stop mother’s who use cocaine and are pregnant? Addictions can happen to anyone whether it is a food, alcohol, or drug addictions. People try things such as: cocaine, smoking, LSD, and prescription drugs where their body becomes use to the substances and craves more. Imagine being pregnant while you are smoking cocaine and every puff you take gets in the fetus. The fetus is affected in many ways, such as developmental disorders, growth, and emotional effects. That child is already addicted to cocaine before it is ever born. Your child had no choice on if he or she wanted to be addicted to the substances or not.
Maternal cocaine can increase postpartum distress, depression, anxiety; paranoia and antisocial personality disorder are common. Mother’s who smoke cocaine also can do a mix of alcohol, marijuana, and smoke nicotine at one time. For the past two decades, there has been concern about prenatal exposure to cocaine and the reaction to the central nervous system. The increase of problems is related to reactivity and regulation in infancy and childhood (Dennis 2006). Cocaine has been found to block reuptake of monoaminergic neurotransmitters, which may disrupt development of neuronal circuitry in fetus. It also causes vasoconstriction of cerebral blood vessels, which produces hypoxic condition in the brain that decreases fetal growth and nutrition to the baby. Couple risk factors are associated to cocaine users that include impairment to the nervous system and cognitive ability. Cocaine exposed infants were excitable and highly aroused while others were lethargic and depressed (Weiss 2007). An increase in the global cognitive at age two, which includes visual spatial skills, arithmetic skills and general knowledge. Children exposed to cocaine at the age between three months and three years old scored lower on the mental development index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Mother’s who give birth to premature babies are the outcome of cocaine users (Bennet 2008). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development was established to measure the mental, motor, and behavior development in infants (Dennis 2006).
Prenatal that was exposed by cocaine showed problems with attention and distractibility during early childhood. Infants that were exposed by cocaine showed different affects determined by their race and gender of the child. Females showed more inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity where boys showed more active and higher intensity pleasure. The first year girls were withdrawn, less positive mood and less active and a six month old from euro American heritage were less intense and more persistent than other cultural babies (Weiss 2007). The Hispanics showed more challenging temperaments than other cultures. A study was done that took a group of infants that had high and low exposure to cocaine. The results showed neonatal medical risk that resulted as, respiratory complications, pneumonia, apnea, metabolic disorders, cardiac problems, hematologic problems and CNS problems (Assandri 1998).
In Maryland, the General Assembly passed the Child in Need of Assistance, Drug Addiction at Birth and Parental Rights Act in 1997, which is known as the DABA. These Acts focused on when a child was born addicted to or had presence of cocaine in their system and was not receiving care and attention. A hospital in Baltimore City brought this Act into action, by any pregnant women who walks in to give birth is tested for drugs. If the test is positive they are referred to the DSS. In the year 1999 the hospital had sixty infants that were born where their test came back positive. Percentage of the children was discharged to extended family or foster care. It is very rare that when the child is born with drug exposure that the mother takes the baby home with her. The mother has to go through substance abuse treatment and if she follows, there is a chance she could get her baby back. If the mother does not follow treatment the DSS has the right to file a CINA petition. The CINA petition is done if the mother refuses drug treatment or is not successful with drug treatment, mother is unable to provide child care, and father not able to provide child care (Reese 2004).
Children are not the only ones who are affected by their cocaine used mothers. Cocaine using mothers can treat their children by abusing and neglecting them. Mother’s become more hostile and ignores their infants when they are crying or even forget to feed them. On worse situations the children will be put into a foster home (Eiden 2006). Children with fetal drug exposure received less care and were sent to child protective services. Fetal exposure can increased fussiness, irritability, inconsolability, problems regulating state changes, startle responses, increase heart rate and respiration and hyperactivity (Weiss 2007)
Policies were made by the Supreme Court where there was uncertainty about when life begins and the status of the fetus in the law. Through this law a couple of facts were listed that included that cocaine exposure in the uterus was associated with a high risk of microcephaly and low birth rate. Spontaneous abortions were common in the first trimester which increased the risk of SIDS. Thought of confining pregnant women who were drug users to treatment program was a must. There were two main laws that were the antidrug distribution law and the fetal abuses status. In the past decade two hundred women in thirty states were criminally charged for drug use that endangered their fetus during the pregnancy. The state temporarily had the custody of the child and at times may terminate the parental rights. On October 13, 1989 the people vs. Hardy case where Kimberly Hardy was charged for delivery of fifty grams of mix cocaine that was ingested and transmitted to the baby through the umbilical cord. The mother was charged for second degree child abuse (Plambeck 2002). References
Alessandri, S., Bendersky, M., & Lewis, M. (1998). Cognitive Functioning in 8 to18-Month-Old Drug-Exposed Infants. Developmental Psychology, 34, 565-573
Bennet, S. D., Bendersky, M., & Lewis, M. (2008). Children’s cognitive Ability from 4 to 9 Years Old as a Function of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure, Environmental Risk, and Maternal Verbal Intelligence. Developmental Psychology, 44, 919-928.
Dennis, T., Bendersky, M., Ramsay, D., & Lewis, M. (2006). Reactivity and Regulation in Children Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine. Developmental Psychology, 42, 688-697.
Eiden, D. R., Stevens, A., & Pamela, A. (2006). A Conceptual Model for Maternal Behavior Among Polydrug Cocaine-Using Mothers: The Role of Postnatal Cocaine use and Maternal Depression. Psychology of Addictive behaviors, 20, 1-10.
Plambeck, C. M., LL.B., &LL.M. (2002). Divided Loyalties Legal and Bioethical Considerations of Physician-Pregnant Patient Confidentiality and Prenatal Drug Abuse. The Journal of Legal Medicine, 23, 1-35.
Reese, A. & Bury, C. (2004). Evaluating Maryland’s Response to Drug-Exposed babies SB 512 Children in Need of Assistance-Dug-Addicted Babies. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 10, 343-369.
Weiss, S.J., John-Seed, M., & Harris-Mitchell, C. (2007). The contribution of fetal drug exposure to temperament: potential teratogenic effects on neuropsychiatric risk. Journal of child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 773-784.
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