‘Crack babies’ aren’t severely damaged, researchers find

[proud2BlibKansan]

<skip>

“These drugs are noxious and not good for the baby,” said Howard Kilbride, chief of the neonatology section at Children’s Mercy Hospital, who helped conduct one study into prenatal cocaine exposure.

“But they seem to get by and tolerate it in most cases.”

<skip>

It also takes more of the air out the “public hysteria” that surrounded the cocaine epidemic decades ago, said Oneta Templeton McMann, coordinator of TIES, or Team for Infants Endangered by Substance Abuse, at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“They were saying these children were going to have dysfunctional brains,” she said.

Not to say no price is paid. There is a small reduction of IQ. There are more difficulty in cognitive areas, such as planning and organization. Some babies are harder to control at times. And there are more issues at birth.

http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1034191.html

I am a special ed teacher and learned this in grad school 15 years ago. Also learned then that early intervention made all the difference for these kids.

I absolutely detest the term 'crack babies'. Just another myth from our war on drugs. And looks like it is finally on its way to being debunked.

[Heidi]

1. I'm with you on this.

I would not be at all surprised if the "crack babies" thing was just more racist fear mongering in the war on drugs (which is really a war on people), not unlike the federal sentencing guidelines calling for harsher sentences for crack cocaine than for regular cocaine. Awful.

[ulysses]

2. unfortunately, the idea has gained wider acceptance than just racists.

My first year at my old (99.9% African-American) school, we got pulled out for an all day inservice at the school in the spring. I went up at lunch to check on my kids, and found the sub, an older black lady, telling them that they were all crack babies. Predictably, all my girls were out in the hall and all the boys were throwing hard, pointy things at the sub.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. That's despicable

I ALWAYS correct people when they use the term 'crack babies'. I tell them it's as bad as 'nigger'.

[Heidi]

5. Disgusting.

:puke:

(Happy Valentine's Day, Chris, ulysses and Mrs. ulysses! :hug: )

[ulysses]

6. same to you and Wes, my friend!

:hug:

[pleah]

4. K&R

[Epiphany4z]

7. I am raising my nephew

his is a crack baby..I have had him since he was 3wks old he is now nearly 9. He is on SSI. He has tremors in his hands, is speech delayed and what speech he has comes out ...kind of out of order, he is at least 3 or 4 years behind other kids his age. You can never be sure what he gets..and just because he gets it one day doesn't mean he will the next. He has sensory issues much like an autistic kid yet he is not autistic.

Now that being said...I think it is possible that term "crack baby" has to be looked at. Does that term just mean the mother did crack?..did she do other drugs? Did she get prenatal care?..it is a pretty big stretch to think a crack addict doesn't live a life style full of other behaviors that would cause damage to the fetus?

I know my nephews mother did not get prenatal care till the last 2 months, I know crack can cause smaller babies and they are often premature that alone comes with a long list of possible issues. I know my crack addicted sister had poor nutrition...I just do not see how they are measuring the damage to these kids ...and come out with next to nothing...i suppose it depends on how you define "crack baby"

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. It's a garbage term

For many years now we have known that the majority of these babies can be helped. There was a study done in the late 80s which was widely ignored that showed specific intervention in place before certain ages eliminated all learning problems in 90% of the kids in the study.

And since this study and so many others have been ignored, how many more kids have suffered who didn't need to?

Good for you for what you are doing for your nephew. :hug:

[Heidi]

10. Why saddle a child with physical and mental challenges with the cruel term "crack baby"?

There are more medically precise and less cruel terms to describe your nephew's challenges than "crack baby."

Thank you for taking care of your nephew. :yourock:

[Epiphany4z]

23. agreed I was just

Using the term as it related to the article and the fact that my nephew was exposed to the drug and what is usually the lifestyle that comes with his birth mother being addicted to the drug. I do wonder how they separate the effects of purely the drug on the fetus and the lifestyle effects...like poor nutrition, lack of prenatal care...early low weight birth...ect..

[boobooday]

9. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is never outgrown

I raised a foster child who was born in a cloud of vodka fumes (his mom knew she had to go to the hospital, so she took a pint before she left). My SIL has a foster son who was born a "crack baby," and he is thriving now at 5 yrs old, while another FAS child she is fostering continues to struggle. These children have problems throughout their lives, but finding help for them as adults is hard.

It's all dangerous, but you are right about the "crack baby" label. It comes from the same place as "welfare queen."

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Yes and thank you for bringing that up

A great book about FAS is BROKEN CORD.

[boobooday]

13. I read it after I adopted my son

Then I had to put it away and forget about it. It was so depressing, but absolutely true.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Did you ever hear about what happened to the family in that book?

Reynald Abel was the boy in the book who had FAS.

In 1991, Reynold Abel was hit by a car and killed. In 1995, Dorris and Erdrich (his parents) unsuccessfully pursued a court case against their son Jeffrey Sava, who had accused them both of child abuse.<2> Shortly afterward, Dorris and Erdrich separated and began divorce proceedings. On April 10, 1997, Dorris used a combination of suffocation, drugs, and alcohol to commit suicide in the Brick Tower Motor Inn in Concord, New Hampshire. Shortly before his death, allegations surfaced of possible abuse against one of his daughters, but the case files were closed with his death and never substantiated or disproved. In conversations with friends before his death, Dorris maintained his innocence and his lack of faith that the legal system would exonerate him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dorris

[boobooday]

15. Yes, bizaare and tragic

The whole story is just sad beyond words.

[fight4my3sons]

12. k&r

I worked as a social worker at an inner city Head Start before going back to school for my Masters in Special Ed. I could not agree with you more. Thank you for posting this!

[KittyWampus]

16. So cocaine DOES reduce IQ, DOES cause cognitive & behavioral difficulties yet you're saying

that isn't a problem?

I can understand wanting to get away from the term "crack baby". Thank you for bringing that up.

However, it seems there are specific problems caused by mothers using cocaine. What label do you prefer then to refer to this problem? Or should there be no label.

Up thread someone said these problems can be SOMEWHAT alleviated by early intervention. If the problem isn't observed, labeled and noted then how does the baby get the specific help they need?

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was mentioned. Is the term Fetal Cocaine Syndrome preferable?

Maybe my not getting enough sleep last night is causing me to no get the point. In which case, apologies.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. A SMALL reduction in IQ

And seriously, my IQ is lower than it was when I was 20. So is yours :)

IQ goes up and down SLIGHTLY as you age. So a small reduction at birth is no great problem. And there are lots of things that can cause a small reduction of IQ in infants. Low birth weight, poor nutrition, environmental toxins. Actually the cognitive impairments caused by lead poisoning are far more significant and damaging than those caused by cocaine exposure in the womb.

Same with behavioral difficulties. Those are found in lots of infants and the ones with FAS are far more serious and less easily corrected.

The point is the term 'crack baby' is a label that is not necessary. The vast majority of these kids can and do get effective intervention as infants and toddlers.

on edit: oops forgot to add that it is difficult to determine an accurate IQ in an infant anyway. We can't get reliable info on a person's IQ much before the age of 5. So it's silly to even have the discussion about IQs in infants and toddlers.

[KittyWampus]

18. My IQ shrinks and my waistline and feet get bigger...

Ah well :)

If newborn starts with lower IQ, even as it goes up and then down, the basal point is still lower and overall it's lower.

Anyhow, so we discard the term 'crack baby' once and for all. GOOD!

Let's call that done.

Are you saying there's no need to use any label at all like fetal alcohol syndrome?

Interesting thread, btw.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. No, FAS is a real and very serious problem

There is also no cure. Those kids don't have good outcomes at all.

[bvar22]

19. Alcohol (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) much, MUCH worse than crack.

Some of the damages attributed to crack are really the results of alcohol ingestion while the mothers were using crack. Many crack addicts use alcohol to relieve the effects of crack withdrawal.

During the 90s, I worked at a community based facility that provided residential treatment for addicted mothers and their children. It was well funded, and we had an in-depth staff of psychologists, addiction counselors, and child development specialists. The majority of our clients were low SES.
We found no special problems with the children of crack addicted mothers that were not common to all children from that environment whether crack was involved or not.

The program was a prototype, and had received publicity. Media would show up almost daily asking to photograph the deformed and insane "Crack Babies". We told them we had none, but if they were interested in pictures of deformed babies, they should visit a facility that dealt with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. None of them were interested in that, and none of them chose to do a story on the myth of "Crack Babies" which we were more than happy to talk about.

(We did not allowed any media coverage of our clients, but did have a staff member to handle Media.)

[mitchum]

21. Hold on...those with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can grow up to be president

witness George W Bush Jr
He displays both the physical and behavioral characteristics of FAS.
And his lush of a mother did drink throughout all of her pregnancies...

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. In my line of work

they are referred to as "drug-exposed infants" and, frankly, given my experience with kids on my caseload whom were born drug-exposed- mostly to marijuana but I've also had one exposed to cocaine- none of the kids ever appeared to have suffered any immediate damage or ill effects of the exposure and all of them in fact seemed as healthy and normal as any other kids.

[kiranon]

24. What about meth babies? Any observations you've had?

Our adopted dtr had a birth mom we suspect was using meth but did not find that out until years after the adoption. Doctors say there is a connection between meth use by a pregnant mom and effects on the child but I haven't seen any studies yet. We live with the effects of something that affected our dtr. It would have been a combination of poor nutrition, not going for prenatal care and ?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

29. Sorry to hear about your dtr

No, I've never had any children on my caseload exposed to meth although I imagine the effects thereof must be pretty devastating. I'm not condoning prenatal drug use in any way nor am I even suggesting that it might not cause problems down the line but I was just agreeing with the OP that the images conjured up by the media of children exposed to drugs (i.e. massive withdrawal symptoms, severe birth defects) aren't always entirely accurate. OTOH some problems and/or effects of prenatal drug exposure may not be evident for some time and I don't think I've ever worked with any of my kids long enough to be able to say. Also, too, I don't think of the parents whom I've worked with have been extremely heavy users but we take the problem of prenatal drug exposure very seriously, particularly if they are using harder drugs than marijuana.

[Tikki]

25. My grandson didn't fare as well as some in the article....

His mother used methamphetamine (not sure if that is called crack).

She's been out of the picture since he was one year old; he is six years old.
For the last five years he has not been exposed to drugs, alcohol or cigarette smoke.

He lags about a year behind other Kindergartners academically, socially and cognitively and is in Spec-Ed classes.
His IQ tested somewhat low.

He was fortunate enough to be caught on the radar when he was still very little and
has been getting an incredible amount of support academically and socially. He is the pride of his daddy's heart.

I wish with all my heart his well-being hadn't been affected by his mother's drug use.


Tikki

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. No, crack is cocaine and meth is sometimes called crank

I am not as well versed on meth as I should be (haven't had a lot of meth exposed kids) but I do think it is much more serious and more likely to cause severe problems in babies. But not always permanent damage.

Your grandson is still young enough that he should continue making improvement. The important thing we know is that environment can indeed be the difference for babies who are drug exposed in the womb. Even FAS kids have better outcomes when raised in homes where they don't have alcohol abusing parents.

[the andromeda stain]

27. I am sorry but I beg to differ...My partner's sister was on crack while pregnant

Her child was born with Cerebral Palsy. He has grown up with a leg brace and limps. Now a teen, he gets teased for his disability. I was just with him recently and believe that there are also probably other, more subtle impairments, in terms of social interaction and learning issues.

I worked several years ago as a SPED TA and it's my belief that crack and other drugs of the late '80s and early '90s created a distinct set of cognitive impairments. Unlike mental retardation, where you can usually determine the condition upon looking at the child, the issues I refer to only are apparent when you really talk to the kid or interact with him/her in an academic setting.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. Alcohol is more toxic than cocaine to babies. Tobacco more dangerous.

[TexasObserver]

30. It's the life the child leads 0-5 that makes or breaks them.

I agree with the article and your comments. I've seen two "crack babies" whose lives were chaos the first 18 months of their lives, then seen how they responded when adopted by loving families. A year later, they were not recognizable as the same child. The sadness and lack of expression are gone.

It isn't the drug status of the child at birth that matters nearly as much as the environment the child endures thereafter. When there are violence and neglect in the home, even when not directed at them, it drains them. They're like little Gitmo prisons in bad environs. And when they get out of those circumstances and have love shown them, they recover remarkably.

Every child deserves being loved by at least one parental figure, whether that figure is actually their parent or not. I'm talking about the "I'll always have your back" kind of love. Too many fathers in America have failed to meet their obligation to be a good father, and it shows all over society, from boys who look to authority figures for guidance to girls who keep thinking they'll find a real daddy in some club.

There are multiple causes of many bad events in America, but absentee fathers is at the top of my list, not drugs, or crime, or any of the symptoms of absentee fathers.

[psychmommy]

31. sounds like a government that doesn't want to take

responsibility for the mess they have created. back in the late 80's and early 90's i worked in a juvenile detention center. i saw children with deformed ears. i saw many with behavioral problems severe enough to end them up in detention. the government allowed this flood of cocaine and crack into this country and ruined these kids lives. now they want to say no problem. well there are problems-there are low functioning kids that drop out of school or get pushed through. they can't read and have learning disabilities and no support system. they are lost and they do need social security, but, soc sec doesn't want to pay for them-oh there's nothing to see here. but, there is something wrong, you may not see it on the outside they don't all have the ear malformation. but, if you talk with them long enough you can tell. this is not a race issue (although crack baby was a racial term) there are boys and girls of all races being effected. don't let them fool you-this is some old propaganda bs to push those folks off of the roles and deprive them of the help they need.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. And there are several of us in this thread who do work with these kids

and agree that the consequences are not as severe as many believe.

There of course are always exceptions. But for the most part, my experience indicates that 'crack baby' is a myth and a term I would like to see removed from our language.