Don’t send kids back to drug-addicted parents

America is in the midst of a drug epidemic. At Gen Justice, a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to mending the broken child protection system, we spend a lot of time researching this crisis from a specific angle — the effect meth and opioids are having on children and infants.

What we’ve learned may not surprise you:

Children of the drug crisis are not making it out alive.

More and more children are living in dangerous and live-threatening conditions. The number of infants and children dying from maltreatment is at an all-time high — and most experts report that these statistics only scratch the surface of the real problem.

In Arizona, the call for protecting these children has been loud and heard. Gov. Doug Ducey, in 2018, fought for and signed bipartisan reform that strengthened protections for substance-exposed infants.

The new safety check red-flags the cases of children facing immediate danger. When placing a child in temporary foster care, authorities must look for things like prior abuse, child abandonment and, for substance-exposed infants, a history of chronic drug use. In these dangerous situations, authorities must alert the court, prioritizing safety and ensuring these infants don’t get overlooked in an overburdened system.

But there is a loophole in this law. And it’s a big one.

The safety check only occurs if the child is being moved into foster care with a relative or other caretaker.

You might ask why this matters. If a baby is born drug-exposed and the parent is using meth, for example, the infant is moved from the home, right? Wrong.

As part of the national effort to reduce the number of children entering foster care, drug-exposed infants are routinely sent home with active heroin and meth users. State services, like drug treatment, are put into the home with the infant, instead of temporarily moving the child.

The intention of keeping families together is on point. But sending infants home with parents high on meth or heroin can be tragic – like it was for Andreana.

Andreana was just 1 year old when she died. Although child protection had substantiated two prior reports about the mother’s drug use going back more than three years, the infant stayed in the home. Andreana’s bottle had methadone in it and she died of an overdose.

And Samuel, who was left in harm’s way despite his father’s chronic drug abuse and years of DCS investigations. Samuel was 21 months old when he died. His father ran him over with a truck.

At last count in Arizona, over 3,500 child victims of substantiated abuse or neglect were not moved to safety. These children, most under 1 year old, are, by and large, living in homes with meth and heroin addicts.

This problem is not limited to Arizona. Brayden was born addicted to drugs in Pennsylvania and sent home. Six weeks later, his mother, high on meth and other substances, fell asleep on the newborn. Brayden suffocated.

As Reuters determined in their nationwide investigation, “being born drug-dependent didn’t kill these children ... What sealed their fates was being sent home to families ill-equipped to care for them.”

Lawmakers can save lives by closing the safety check loophole.

When child protection receives a report about a substance-exposed infant, workers should immediately apply the safety check. If it reveals any of the lifethreatening behaviors listed in statute, such as having committed a violent crime against another child, abandoning a child, or chronic drug abuse, the infant should be moved to safety.

Had the safety check been performed in Andreana’s case, authorities would have found a lengthy case file showing chronic drug use and almost assuredly moved her to safety. She would have had a guardian ad litem and a judge monitoring her safety and enforcing her rights.

In addition, Andreana’s mother would have had an attorney in her corner to help her address her drug use and to protect her due process rights – instead of burying her baby and heading to prison.

We invite lawmakers of all parties to build on their great work and to close this unintended loophole.