Crack Babies

"CRACK BABIES": DEVELOPMENT, CHARACTERISTICS, OUTCOMES, & IMPLICATIONS

This research examines the syndrome of so-called "crack babies." The examination focuses on the development this condition, the characteristics of these subjects in both their infancy and later childhood, social outcomes for these subjects, and the implications of the "crack babies" syndrome for social work.

This researcher served as a drug and alcohol counselor for pregnant women with addicted fetuses for a period approximating one-year. This experience led to the selection of the "crack babies" syndrome as the focus for this research.

Development of the "Crack Babies" Syndrome

The "Crack Baby Syndrome" is characterized by newborn infants who are immediately identified by the delivering physician as being prenatally exposed to substance abuse. Thus, the term, "Crack Baby" actually can refer to infants who are exposed to toxic substances other than cocaine. Infants exposed to drugs during the prenatal stage of development have been found to typically have been exposed to many types of narcotics simultaneously (Calhoon, 1996). Thus, Neuspiel (1993) concluded that: "� problems detected in � cocaine exposed children should not be simplistically attributed to the drug, since many other risk factors may be present, such as exposure to tobacco smoke, lead, poor housing, limited nutrition, and other health and social problems" (p. 407). Kearney (1995) reported that some of the adverse phys

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on the Neonatal Stress Scale than non cocaine addicted infants. Maternal cocaine use during pregnancy as a causal factor for such outcomes was statistically significant at p .009 (Datta, et al., 1998). Karlix, et al. (1998) reported evidence that exposure to cocaine in the womb tends to suppress the immune system of the fetus and later of the infant. This outcome implies that such infants will face continuing health problems as the progress through childhood. Social Outcomes for "Crack Babies" Litt and McNeil (1997) contend that reports of the adverse outcomes for infants exposed to cocaine as fetuses "have been greatly exaggerated" (p. 31). Litt & McNeil (1997) attribute the scientific reports of such outcomes reported in medical journals to a "cultural conception of a bio-underclass" that emanates from "class and racial divisions and reproductive politics in the United States" (p. 31). Such surmises are the type of sociological claptrap that, if accepted, assure that the nation will continue to experience the births of large number of drug addicted infants and will doom "crack babies" and their mothers to unproductive and unpleasant lives without adequate social support. The American Medical Association (1990) reported

Category: Medical - C