Drug-Mommy and Me : Users and Their Babies Get Help at Program

At first glance, it looked like just another “mommy and me” class. A dozen women converged on a school room, some pushing toddlers in flowered strollers, others carrying bright-eyed babies in lace-trimmed carriers.

But as the women greeted one another and compared notes on their babies, it became clear that this was a class with a difference. For these young mothers also were talking about twice-a-week drug tests, “staying clean” and avoiding former friends who were “using.”

Among the class members was a woman who had snorted cocaine during her pregnancy. “I can’t believe I did. But I did,” she said matter-of-factly as she cradled a tiny, 13-week-old boy who was born prematurely, probably because of her drug use.

“They say, as he grows, he may have problems with motor skills and with his speech,” she said as the baby studied her with wide, brown eyes. “I pray not. It’s very scary.”

Nearby, a 2-year-old boy ran in circles, then plunged headfirst down a wooden slide and finally settled down at a low table to make “cookies” out of Play-Doh.

“We’re trying to lengthen Michael’s attention span,” explained teacher Judy Cortes as she sat with him, showing the tow-headed boy how to use a bear-shaped cookie cutter. Though his mother denies using cocaine in pregnancy, Cortes and other staffers said Michael’s hyperactive behavior appears that of a drug-affected child.

The mothers and children are part of Project PATIENCE, a unique program that offers drug treatment and parenting classes for mothers along with a child development program for their drug-exposed babies.

Since early March, 20 women and their 22 children, newborns to age 3, have enrolled in this new, six-month program. Run by the Orange County Health Care Agency, Department of Education and Social Services Agency with $300,000 in federal funds, the program is expected to move to Santa Ana in July and expand to 64 mothers and children.

Orange County’s drug baby problem is a growing one: At least 2% of Orange County babies--80 a month--are born after being exposed in the womb to cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, according to a survey released here recently.

There are only three programs designed for drug-exposed babies, and PATIENCE is the only one working regularly with children and their parents.

At the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park, teachers provide special education to neurologically impaired children, some of them drug babies. Though the school provides some parenting classes, those who attend are usually foster parents--not the drug-exposed children’s natural parents, said staff psychologist Kathy Kutschka. The third Orange County program designed for drug-exposed children is a UC Irvine clinic that assesses drug babies called Project HOPE.

A Growing Need

All told, the three programs are expected to serve 450 drug-affected children this year. But with Orange County’s “drug baby” population growing by at least 1,000 children a year, “this is a drop in the bucket compared to what we need,” Kutschka said.

Still, Project PATIENCE--the acronym stands for Parent, Alternative, Training, Intervention, Evaluation, Nurturing, Child, Education--is a start.

County perinatal treatment chief Hermia Brown said she hopes that PATIENCE can break the cycle of drug abuse, in part with such traditional techniques as counseling and drug tests, but also by awakening these mothers’ interest in their children.

Added social worker Nelda Palomino: “It’s exciting to see the kids growing and the mothers blossoming. They’re seeing themselves as normal mothers--rather than someone who was labeled ‘drug user.’ ”

County drug treatment officials began planning the program several years ago after noticing that women regularly quit drug-treatment programs because of a lack of child care. They teamed with the county Department of Education to arrange “hands-on” parenting classes for mothers plus a program for their drug-exposed children.

From the beginning, designing PATIENCE was far more complex than just tacking a day-care center onto a drug-treatment program, Brown and other officials said.

Aware that drug-exposed children can be upset by bright colors, Nancy Claxton, administrator of the county Education Department’s child development program, selected play equipment carefully.

“I was conscious of not making things too overstimulating,” Claxton said. “Yet you still want developmentally appropriate things.” For instance, she rejected bright-hued building blocks, instead making blocks from empty milk cartons that she covered with a muted blue paper.

And to capture the attention of unusually fretful babies, Claxton outfitted their cribs with black-and-white mobiles and had mirrors built into their headboards so the babies can discover what they look like.

The project’s four teachers attended workshops in handling drug-exposed children. Still, they were surprised by the children’s behavior when the first ones arrived.

While some babies cried all the time and needed constant holding, one was “lethargic,” probably because his mother used pure cocaine in pregnancy, said teacher Judy Cook. “And one little girl has rigid arms--we think because of (her mother’s) amphetamine use. She has trouble picking up toys.”

No Quitters So Far

The teachers also learned to hold some babies tightly, but without eye contact. “Eye contact can make them more irritable. So we do not give eye contact intentionally,” teacher Ginnie Loucks said. Also, the teachers learned that some toddlers who appeared normal had severely delayed language skills.

As for the mothers, most were ordered into the program when their babies tested positive for illegal drugs at birth, Brown said. Most have custody of their babies now--as long as they attend class and stay off drugs. For a few women, however, attending class is their only way to see babies who, under juvenile court orders, remain in foster homes.

At the county’s traditional drug-treatment program in Santa Ana, a third of the women drop out in the first three months, probably to return to drugs, Brown said. So far, no PATIENCE participant has quit. The reason? The program is small and conducted on intimate terms. Mothers are receiving child care--and solid advice on handling difficult children. In all, “we’re like a family here,” Brown said.

One day earlier this week, the atmosphere at PATIENCE was friendly as the program began. Toddlers played, sometimes by themselves or with their mothers. Other women holding small babies chatted with each other and the teachers.

Shaking a rattle to quiet 7-month-old Anthony, a Cypress woman named Cynde said she had been “a freebase addict” before her son was born.

She liked the treatment program, Cynde said. “I like the other mothers. . . . And Anthony gets to interact with other kids. And taking the test, knowing that your urine will be tested twice a week, it keeps you clean.”

At 10 a.m., Cynde and a dozen mothers gathered in a circle. Holding babies and toddlers on their laps, they heard a briefing from Cook on the need for childhood immunizations.

Half an hour later, the women handed their children over to the teachers and moved to another room for a drug-counseling session. There, a nurse asked each mother to confront her addiction.

“My name is Candace and my drug of choice is heroin,” began a tall brunette with tattoos on both arms. Other women said they had been hooked on cocaine, or “cocaine and heroin,” or speed.

When the litany of drug abuse was done, the women were asked to define a good parent.

Said a former cocaine user: “They have to provide food and shelter and rest for the child. These are things, when you use drugs, you don’t think about.”

Added another: “An effective parent is responsible and dependable. You have to be there every day--regardless of whether you use drugs or not.”

After an hour of probing their addictive behavior, it was time for the mothers to return to their children, play with them briefly and then head for home, soberly.