Tennessee Safe Harbor for Pregnant Women Addicted to Prescription Drugs

Tennessee safe harbor for pregnant women addicted to prescription drugs

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), that’s the medical terminology describing the condition of newborn medical patients addicted to illicit and prescription drugs. Nationally, almost seven of every 1,000 births result in NAS babies, many of whom are born with addictions to prescription narcotics.

In the womb, the pregnant woman’s drug use spreads to the fetus through the placenta. Following birth, the addicted newborn is cut off from the drug supply and may begin suffering serious withdrawal symptoms within one to 10 days. The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists numerous complications from NAS, including:

• birth defects
• premature birth
• small head circumference
• low birth weight
• sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• poor feeding
• slow growth

As with other states, ever increasing numbers of Tennessee babies are born addicted to prescription opiates, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and more. NAS newborns typically need extended medical care with longer hospital stays than do healthy newborns. The financial impact on TennCare of these extended neonatal hospitalizations has been substantial.

To protect both mother and child, and to keep families together, the state legislature took action earlier this year to encourage pregnant women with prescription drug abuse problems to seek treatment early on in their pregnancies.

Tennessee Safe Harbor Act of 2013

The Tennessee Safe Harbor Act of 2013 was signed into law by Governor Haslam on May 14, 2013. Under the new law, a woman whose pregnancy is affected because of her prescription drug problem may seek treatment without risking loss of custody because of her dependency.

She will need to comply with a treatment plan along with other requirements, but assuming the mother-to-be is in compliance, she may enjoy safe harbor from the immediate threat of losing custody of her newborn baby. This is a huge incentive for pregnant women of all ages to come out of the shadows and seek help with their prescription drug addictions.

Prior to the law’s enactment, the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) could seek to remove the NAS newborn from the mother’s custody and move to terminate parental rights based upon her prescription drug abuse alone. According to Senator Ken Yager (R-Harriman), the mother could lose custody of her child “solely because of the patient’s use of prescription drugs” during pregnancy.

As an overview only, when the obstetrician or prenatal healthcare provider determines that:

• The pregnant patient is abusing prescription drugs, such as narcotic pain killers;
• The prescription drug use may affect normal development of the fetus; and
• The mother is in her first trimester or fairly early in the second trimester, but not yet into her twenty-first week of pregnancy; then the Safe Harbor Act offers protection for the mother who is willing to undergo a serious, focused treatment plan for the duration of her pregnancy.

The Safe Harbor Act will hopefully motivate many pregnant women to seek the help they need to escape addiction long before the baby is born.

Factoring Parental Drug Abuse into Child Custody Decisions

A parent’s alcohol or drug abuse, whether to prescription drugs or other substances, could be considered by the court in any child custody case. For information about the many factors taken into account by the court, take a few minutes to read about Tennessee Child Custody Laws in Divorce.

Contact a Memphis Divorce Lawyer for Help with Child Custody

The Miles Mason Family Law Group handles Tennessee divorce, child support, alimony, child custody, and parent relocation. Download our free e-Book, Your First Steps: 7 Steps Planning Your Tennessee Divorce. A Memphis divorce lawyer from the Miles Mason Family Law Group can help. To schedule your confidential consultation, call us today at (901) 683-1850.