© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Addressing Drug-Dependent Newborns in Missouri's Bootheel

In 2016 nearly 600 Missouri babies were born addicted to drugs. The condition, know as neonatal abstinence syndrome, has spiked in the state increasing by 538 percent between 2006 and 2016.  

 

The KBIA Health & Wealth Desk will be exploring those numbers throughout the year, along with work being done to address the issue. Reporter Bram Sable-Smith recently spoke with one organization, Project WIN, that provides behavioral health services including addiction counseling to pregnant and postpartum women in the Missouri Bootheel. Brooke Burlison is the project manager. 

 

 

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. 

 

Bram Sable-Smith: Your program is less than a year old. How has it been going?

 

Brooke Burlison: We've had at least eight babies in our program that have been born. They've all been live, drug-free births. We have a couple women who are working to get their children back in their home. They were drug-free but when they came into the program they had a history of substance use issues with their other children. In Dunklin County when women with a history of substance use give birth to a new baby they aren't able to take that baby back into their home until they've completed a certain amount of treatment. 

 

We just recently had one baby that was reunited with her family and that's been exciting to be a part of. This individual is doing really well, she's got a family, she's getting it back together, working toward a job, and she's also very interested in one day becoming a peer support specialist herself. 

 

Hopefully with our current encouraging and support, she will not continue on that path. 

 

BSS: When when do participants finish the program?

 

BB: Of course we would like them to stay until the baby turns one. But if we have a women who is successful and we're very confident that they are sustaining and maintaining care of the baby —their job and everything is stable, they've been abstaining from the substance use, alcohol or tobacco — if those things are real and they're ready to be released then they could be discharged before the baby's first birthday.

 

Our goal is, of course, for them to stay until the baby's first birthday. We haven't got there yet because we're pretty new as a program, but we're coming up on some women that are getting very close. 

 

BSS: What's your capacity for this program?

 

BB: Right now we have 30 women enrolled and we're going to keep going. Some of them are doing really well, they're close to not needing our services, which is a great thing. 

 

Now, as we look at transitioning some women out of the program, my goal is to bring more women in. It's hard say an exact number but we're going to at least try for ten more. I would like to have 50 enrolled, and I think it's doable. Of course if we get to the point we feel like we're not providing the type of care that they need then we may have to look at backing off a little bit, but you know right now I think that we're staying pretty good.

A curious Columbia, Mo. native, Bram Sable-Smith has documented mbira musicians in Zimbabwe, mining protests in Chile, and the St. Louis airport's tumultuous relationship with the Chinese cargo business. His reporting from Ferguson, Mo. was part of a KBIA documentary honored by the Missouri Broadcasters Association and winner of a national Edward R. Murrow Award. He comes to KBIA most recently from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine.
Related Content