Grand Jury Calls Drug Babies a Growing Burden : Report: Panel finds county unprepared for the long-term needs of infants born to addicted mothers.

As many as 8,000 babies born each year in San Diego County are being exposed to drugs or alcohol while in the womb, according to a report issued Tuesday by the San Diego County Grand Jury.

In half of those cases, the mother’s drug use is severe enough that babies usually test positive for drugs immediately after birth, said Peggy Peelle, chairwoman of the grand jury committee that compiled the report on children who are damaged by drugs and alcohol during pregnancy.

The report was prompted by a growing wave of drug babies that is “overburdening our resources,” Grand Jury Foreman J. Phil Franklin said Tuesday. “We are not prepared . . . for the special long-term needs” of babies who are damaged when their mothers abuse drugs and alcohol, Franklin said.

Withdrawal care for physically and neurologically damaged infants costs an estimated $28,000 per infant, and therapy to prepare them for kindergarten costs an additional $40,000, said Peelle, a retired pediatrician. Withdrawal symptoms for drug-addicted babies may last for months, making it difficult and expensive to care for the infants, according to Peelle.

“Drug Abuse Through the Umbilical Cord,” a 35-page report that the grand jury issued following seven months of study, includes 25 recommendations for six countywide agencies charged with public health and law enforcement. Franklin and Peelle maintained that the report would not be “back-burnered” by county supervisors, who already have pledged to bolster programs to address the growing problem.

Among the grand jury’s recommendations were:

* The creation of drug treatment centers that would cater to pregnant women and their children.

* Increased education aimed at reducing illegal drug use.

* Mandatory drug treatment programs for women who give birth to drug-addicted babies.

* Mandatory drug testing for pregnant women known to be at high risk for substance abuse.

* Encouragement for obstetricians to conduct prenatal drug testing on pregnant women, a move that could help to cut the number of babies born with physical and neurological damage.

According to figures in the report, methamphetamine is the “primary drug of abuse” among pregnant San Diego women who choose to do drugs. Cocaine is the second most common drug of choice, followed by heroin.

A 1987 study of 463 drug-exposed babies showed that the median age of their drug-abusing mothers was 26, leading researchers to state that “the women reflected in this study are not our teen-agers.”

That study also showed that methamphetamine was the drug of choice in 51% of the cases where babies tested positive for drugs. Cocaine accounted for 29% of the cases and heroin for 11%.

A majority of pregnant white women whose babies were exposed to illegal drugs prefer to use methamphetamine, according to the report, while more than 80% of black pregnant women whose babies were exposed to illegal drugs prefer crack cocaine. About half of the pregnant Latino women who use illegal drugs prefer methamphetamine, the report suggested.

The grand jury report paid special attention to the growing number of mothers who deliver more than one drug-exposed infant. Statistics from one local hospital, which was unidentified, suggested that the “average mother whose addicted infant was in the intensive care nursery had previously given birth to a drug-exposed infant.” The report also cited the case of one Los Angeles-area woman who has given birth to seven drug-exposed babies.

Medical experts are most concerned about the 4,000 babies each year who are classified as “positive tox” babies, infants who at birth test positive for methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP, alcohol or other drugs, Peelle said.

Not all local hospitals test mothers or babies for drugs, but an estimated 11% of babies born nationally are believed to be positive tox babies. During 1988, hospitals reported 1,000 positive tox babies to the county’s department of Child Protective Services.

Drug-exposed infants are more likely to be born prematurely, or to be born “growth-retarded,” further increasing the risk of death or disability, according to the report. The grand jury report cited a study by a local hospital, again unidentified, which found that 39% of full-term infants who tested positive for drugs had brain abnormalities.

San Diego hospitals also are struggling with another expensive byproduct of increased drug use by mothers, the so-called “boarder babies” who are abandoned at the hospital by mothers. One unnamed local hospital recently held an abandoned baby for a 245-day stay that cost $250,000, according to the report.

An increasing number of drug-exposed babies, including many who are abandoned, have AIDS or venereal diseases, making placement in foster homes difficult, according to the report.

San Diego’s foster homes generally have been able to absorb the growing number of babies that are either abandoned or taken from their parents, according to the report. But, “as our foster homes become saturated and the incidence of venereal diseases and AIDS increases, we will probably be faced” with a shortage, according to the grand jury report.

In recent years, nearly 60% of babies identified as having been exposed to drugs were sent to foster homes, usually because the parents were unfit to raise the children. After one year, 30% remained in foster homes, according to the report.

As many as 40 new positive tox babies now are entering the foster care system each month. The county recently hired a recruiter to find and train families who can provide special care demanded by drug and alcohol-damaged infants.

Although the number of pregnant mothers has increased rapidly in recent years, “San Diego County did not have any comprehensive day treatment programs to meet the special needs of pregnant or parenting women,” the grand jury report said.

Of 121 residential beds available for treatment of woman alcoholics, just 12 beds were reserved for women with children. Similarly, of 34 beds funded by drug abuse services for addicted women, just six were reserved for addicts’ children.

The county also is struggling to address the growing number of women who never see a doctor during pregnancy. The county now has the highest “no care” delivery rate in California, largely because only 20% of the county’s obstetricians will accept Medi-Cal patients. Medi-Cal is seen as an undesirable service because it offers relatively low payments and a lot of paper work and bureaucracy.

Drug Use in Pregnancy By race, the choice of illegal drugs by pregant drug users in San Diego County.

Blacks Percent Crystal Meth 8% Cocaine 83% Heroin 4% Other 5%

Caucasians Percent Crystal Meth 82% Cocaine 8% Heroin 6% Other 4%

Hispanics Percent Crystal Meth 49% Cocaine 21% Heroin 16% Other 14%

Source: San Diego County Child Protective Services