COSTA MESA : Drug-Exposed Babies Get the Right Medicine

Debbe Magnusen traces her love for underprivileged children to the time when her father, a dentist, took her to Mexico where he volunteered at a clinic. She vividly remembers helping him with his work.

Today, Magnusen, 39, and her husband, David, 41, take care of drug-exposed babies in their home under the auspices of Project Cuddle. Established in 1990, the nonprofit organization helps find such infants caring parents who are interested in adopting.

“Drug-exposed babies don’t have five heads and four arms,” said Magnusen, who over the years has taken care of 28 children who were born to drug-addicted mothers. “They can be just as loving and just as wonderful as anybody else. All it takes is a little nurturing, proper care and intervention.”

Most of the children the Magnusens care for come from Orangewood in Orange, where the county places abused and neglected children in protective custody. According to Magnusen, 850,000 drug-exposed babies are born in the country each year, and 22,000 such children spend the first year of their lives in institutions.

The Magnusens adopted four drug-exposed children who initially came into their house as foster children. They are the natural parents of a 17-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son.

The house is getting too full these days to adopt any more, Debbe Magnusen said, much as she would like to.

The couple is now taking care of two drug-exposed children while the mothers await court hearings to determine whether their children will be returned to them or put up for adoption.

“But in all the years I’ve done this, I’ve never seen a baby go back home to the mother,” Magnusen said. “It’s sad, but it’s true.”