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 The senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee
envision the law as part of a comprehensive effort to address the
opioid crisis with increased prevention, treatment and law
enforcement.
"Children and families are relying on us to take this important
step,” committee chairman Sen. Orin Hatch, a Republican of Utah,
said during the hearing.
The committee’s ranking Democrat, Ron Wyden of Oregon, cited a
recent Reuters investigation, which documented 110 preventable
deaths of infants sent home with opioid-addicted parents
ill-prepared to care for them. One drug-dependent baby is born in
the United States every 19 minutes, the series found.
“A parent’s drug addiction is becoming a growing reason for removing
children from their homes and placing them in foster care,” Wyden
said.
Hatch and Wyden described only the general scope of the bill they
planned to introduce. They did not offer specifics for the “Family
First Act,” but their staffers said the money would likely come from
existing funds.
Nancy Young, director of Children and Family Futures, which provides
services to government welfare programs, testified that parental
opioid use before and after birth places a profound strain on the
foster care system. Shifting foster care funds to help parents cope
with addiction will reduce costs, she said, in part because it will
help keep mothers and infants together.
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“We have the knowledge – we can no longer say we don’t know what to
do,” said Young, who cited statistics from the Reuters investigation
to describe the scope of the crisis.
Last month, responding to the report, a House committee overseeing
child abuse opened an inquiry into whether the federal government is
failing to enforce a federal law meant to protect thousands of
babies born dependent on drugs each year. Reuters found that no more
than nine states comply with a law that calls on hospitals to alert
social workers whenever such a baby is born, and help them develop a
“plan of safe care.”
Federal health and drug officials have declined to comment and,
according to a congressional staffer, have not responded to the
House queries.
(Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by David Gregorio)
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