By Michael Fitzgerald, The Chronicle of Social Change, July 8, 2020
When a young pregnant mom informed her prenatal care providers that she had smoked marijuana to relieve stress, nausea and poor appetite, they didn’t seem concerned. But after the birth of her son a few years ago in a Bronx hospital, a test of the baby’s urine came back positive for cannabis, and the hospital quickly called child welfare authorities.
They presented her with an ultimatum: Enter a residential drug treatment program with your two children, or lose them to foster care.
An account of this New York mother’s experience – included in the recently released report “How The Foster System Has Become Ground Zero for The U.S. Drug War” – describes how she opted for residential treatment. The woman, identified minimally as “Ms. CS” to protect her identity, was unable, “in her heart of hearts,” to be separated from her infant.
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