STAT+: Federal bill would keep addiction medication from triggering a child abuse investigation
A bill would address a Catch-22 in some pregnancies: use prescription medication to treat opioid misuse disorder but risk being reported to child welfare officials.
When Keri McCallum‘s doctor prescribed her Suboxone, she was told it was the “safest thing for me.” It would aid her in her recovery from fentanyl addiction. It would, like it has for others, help change her life, McCallum said.
But, being pregnant with her second child, the Upton resident also experienced another impact of her prescription: It required she be reported to the state for potential child abuse or neglect.
“It’s this weird scenario,” said McCallum, 33, now four years sober and a recovery coach herself. A drug like Suboxone can help people become “productive members of society again. It helps them in recovery. Then you go and have a baby, and you’re being told you’re being abusive or neglectful.”
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