CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Few Drug-Exposed Babies Receive Help

More than 72,000 babies are born in California each year with prenatal exposure to harmful drugs and alcohol, but only about 11% of them are in county programs, state researchers announced. The Senate Office of Research said 25 of the state’s 58 counties reported that 6,358 drug-exposed newborns were referred to county child welfare services in the 1988-89 fiscal year. The counties account for 80% of the state’s births. Only 11% of the estimated 72,000 babies who were exposed to drugs in the womb are being referred to Child Protective Services units, the report found. Ninety-one percent of the counties responding to the survey said cocaine was the drug detected most often in screening tests of high-risk mothers or babies. “Counties are reporting an alarming lack of drug treatment programs for substance-abusing pregnant women and new mothers, posing untold risks for thousands of babies,” said Sen. Diane Watson, the Los Angeles Democrat who requested the survey.