[mommy_2b_NC]

I'm sure the answer to my question is on this board somewhere, but I could not find it with the keywords I used to search.

When a baby is exposed to drugs, are there some drugs that are less damaging than others? If we choose to do foster-adopt or straight adoption, I was wondering if there would be certain placements that maybe we should consider. I initially thought that I would not want to consider a baby with ANY drug exposure, but that would probably eliminate a lot of potentially healthy children.

For instance, are most babies that are exposed to say, cocaine in utero o.k. after birth and for the rest of their lives? Heroin, meth, etc.? Is there a list somewhere? FAS is a different story, right? Does testing positive at birth and having to go thru withdrawl make a difference?

I'm so new to this so thank you for your responses! Those of you that have adopted drug exposed children, I would LOVE to hear your personal adoption stories if you'd like to PM me.

[Shai's Mom]

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/285/12/1613

Hi and welcome! I am a proud mom to two absolutely amazing, wonderful little boys who were both exposed to drugs in-utero.

My little one, who is now 2 1/2 years old was born with a cocaine addiction.

Here is the link to an article I found today:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/285/12/1613

My older son tested "clean" at birth, but his b-mom was a 9 year drug addict. At age 6 he is a intelligent, well-adjusted, amazingly healthy little boy.

Don't let drug exposure frighten you off, it's often not as bad as it seems.

[mrsred]

They are finding that a lot of the babies that were exposed to drugs in utero mayh have learning disabilities later. There is also a higher incidence of ADHD. But whether that is due to the drug exposure, or inherited, due to the fact that a lot of untreated people with adhd end up adicted to drugs is not established.
Not only will the type of drugs have an impact on the baby, so will the timeline. Since different parts of the brain of the fetus, and even different parts of the body, are developing during different stages of pregnancy, WHEN the mother uses drugs makes a difference. Same with alcohol on this part. For instance some may have a problem with visual conception, another child, exposed to the same drug may have a problem with sensory processing, yet another with auditory. It all depends on what part of the brain was developing when the fetus was exposed to the drug.
Over all though, the damge done by alcohol is much more severe, much harder todeal with than that done by "drugs" in my opinion.

[atouchofheaven]

everything mrsred just said i have heard as well. my son tested positive for methodone at birth because his birthmom was in a treatment program for drug addiction, and she admitted to taking cocaine the day before he was born. he spent 2 weeks in the NICU to withdraw and needed medication.

if you adopt from foster care you may not even know if the birthmom abused substances or not anyway. the birthmom could be dishonest about what, how much, and when.

in my experience, with FAS the symptoms are much more severe. my son doesn't have any effects from the drug exposure as of now. but he is only 19 months. if you do decide to foster/adopt a child with exposure to any substances, be prepared for the unexpected. you just never know and there are no guarantees. but that's with all kids, even more so with kids adopted from foster care. don't decide to accept a child with drug exposure if you're not willing to possibly have to work with therapists and special educators in the future. good luck.

[Barksum]

With our experience (4 kids with varying degrees of exposure to various substances, some with documented exposure of 6 different drugs) you can't tell ahead of time. There is really no accurate way to know what drugs have been used by the birth mother, how much, when during the pregnancy they were used, and what kind of an impact they will have on any particular child. Some moms are very open about their drug use, but even they don't usually know how much and when they used with any certainty.

Having said that, alcohol is considered one of the 'worse' drugs. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is more than only FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and is actually measured on a continuum of mild through to severe, even for the child diagnosed with full FAS. With fetal alcohol spectrum disorders you might have a child with no visible markers for FAS, but who has brain impairments due to the limited exposure he had in utero. What used to be called fetal alcohol effect (FAE) is considered to be 'an invisible handicapping condition' because you can't SEE that there could be a problem, but the brain differences are there.

There is also the state of maternal health that can impact the health of the baby, so a mom with poor health and a drug problem may have a child who has more problems. Some children are undiagnosed as having problems even when they do, some children are misdiagnosed, and some children seemingly have no impairment at all. It can be very difficult to determine if a child has a problem relating to prenatal drug exposure or if it is a genetic predisposition...or just the way that child is for unknown reasons.

I heartily second the idea that when adopting a child you need to be prepared for the unexpected. My biological child has some deformities that we didn't recognize until she was 7 years old. Our adopted children have had some suprises in store for us, too. There are just no guarantees no matter what we do or how careful we are.

[mrsred]

[QUOTEI heartily second the idea that when adopting a child you need to be prepared for the unexpected. My biological child has some deformities that we didn't recognize until she was 7 years old. Our adopted children have had some suprises in store for us, too. There are just no guarantees no matter what we do or how careful we are.[/quote]

Ye, my daughters comprehension problems are most likely due to her mothers drug use. Actually she comprehends fine... it is more a matter of her not getting the gestalt. When reading large pieces, or watching lomg movies, she misses sections. When tested they tend to just test them on paragraphs so she tests really well. Her teachers think I am nuts and there is not problem.
On the other hand, my biological child has pretty serious adhd... and not only did I do not drugs, I didn't drink and all, and took extremely good care of myself when pregnant with him.
Life holds not guarantees.

[AudreyE]

All three of my children were drug-exposed (cocaine, crack, PCP, you name it. Two are fine, more or less, or as fine as kids can be these days, LOL.

But my older daughter was seriously alcohol exposed, and will suffer the rest of her life for it. Worse, it wasn't FAS... it was much more insidious than that... ARND... which has no "physical" symptoms but has left incurable learning disabilities and emotional problems.

Don't worry so much about the drugs... like the other posters said, there are no guarantees either way. But do worry about alcohol... my beautiful daughter is living proof that it's the worse drug of all.

Audrey

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by mommy_2b_NC

I'm sure the answer to my question is on this board somewhere, but I could not find it with the keywords I used to search.

When a baby is exposed to drugs, are there some drugs that are less damaging than others? If we choose to do foster-adopt or straight adoption, I was wondering if there would be certain placements that maybe we should consider. I initially thought that I would not want to consider a baby with ANY drug exposure, but that would probably eliminate a lot of potentially healthy children.

For instance, are most babies that are exposed to say, cocaine in utero o.k. after birth and for the rest of their lives? Heroin, meth, etc.? Is there a list somewhere? FAS is a different story, right? Does testing positive at birth and having to go thru withdrawl make a difference?

I'm so new to this so thank you for your responses! Those of you that have adopted drug exposed children, I would LOVE to hear your personal adoption stories if you'd like to PM me.

Both my children have some prenatal exposure to substance. I put it that way because we know for sure they were exposed to crack cocaine and alcohol at various levels and times while in utero. But at least from our experience, we still really don't know the full story about when and how much and what kind of substances were used. I'm relating that because when considering situations where prenatal exposure may be an issue, most especially when there is addiction involved (that is a disclaimer because I know that there are many women who drink before realizing they are pregnant...that is a completely different situation). So whatever you decide, you have to prepared for that possibility, for the unexpected and for the not-knowing.

That said, IMO it is more about timing and metabolism whether or not a certain substance causes harm. And prenatal nutrition and care as well as postnatal environment all factor in. I guarantee that with every story, you will not be able to find a standard or gauge for any of it. It just isn't there.

If it were me, and we were waiting to adopt again, we would consider most drugs except meth. Although some here have experience with it, for me, there wasn't enough longterm information regarding the effects of this drug on development.

And it should be noted that for the most part, if and when an illegal substance is used, it is most probably the case that alcohol was used on some level as well. And alcohol is probably the worst of all for known longterm effects.

There really is no way of knowing. It is a leap of faith. But then, isn't that parenting anyway? You have to determine the level of risk you are willing to consider and then look at each case on its own merit and make a decision. That is what we did and our agency was very willing to let us have time to make these decisions on a case by case basis (although it was incredibly hard to say "no" to any of them, but we had to...) and not force us to check a box and say yes or no on a form. They did this because they had few families willing to consider some of the more complex cases.

Another thing to consider is that no matter how a child does initially post-birth, there is no guarantee regarding development. In fact, from all the education and reading we have done, it became clear that until a child is of the age where they are making logical and independent decisions, the full effect may not be known. This usually does not occur before the teen years.

My kids are both amazing. DD is 3 (she'd say 3 3/4) and doing well. She did not go through withdrawal and we haven't seen any real effects we can identify as related to the prenatal exposure. She is brilliant (and I AM PREJUDICE!!!), very high-spirited and creative and doing very well both intellectually and socially. TWe do know that her exposure occurred early in pregnancy, ranging from the first 6 weeks to 20 weeks (several different stories about this).

DS is 19 months and a little fireball but we honestly aren't sure if it has anything more to do with personality and the fact he's nearly a 2yo boy! He had a very tough beginning. Although he did not test positive at birth, he went through withdrawal for the first 6 weeks and had some struggles with digestive problems and fighting numerous infections for the first six months. He was followed closely the first year by a developmental pediatrician and early intervention because he had some stiff muscle tone and other symptoms that indicated the possibility of cerebral palsy. He was late on many milestones but I think it was only because he likes to make those kind of decisions for himself, stubborn Little Man that he is! He is completely on par developmentally now and we are thrilled with his progress. He was exposed regularly during the first 5 months of the pregnancy and that we know of, at least twice the week before delivery.

Some resources that I have found helpful... a booklist for issues related to prenatal exposure; NIDA website which I found very helpful; contact a developmental pediatrician who specializes in prenatal exposure; contact your local early intervention program through your county health unit...they will have information; the library; and your agency may have some resources available...

Hope that helps...