Mo. Foster Care Flooded With Young Kids Of Parents Addicted To Heroin
In other news on the nation's opioid and heroin epidemic, police departments in Virginia and Ohio expand the use of naloxone by officers to combat overdoses.
St. Louis Post Dispatch:
Tiniest Victims Of Missouri's Heroin Epidemic Flood Into Foster Care
The tiny babies typically arrive at Jill Bundschuh’s foster home in Rock Hill around her family’s dinner time. Social workers bring them on short notice, with maybe some formula and a few diapers. There are no extra onesies. No swaddling blankets. No car seats. The paperwork is usually sparse beyond a name and maybe a few clues about the baby’s first few days or weeks of life. Bundschuh knows from experience to quickly read the hospital notes before the caseworker leaves with the file. Even when there is no medical history, this relatively new foster parent knows what to expect in the long night ahead. (Cambria, 2/26)
Richmond Times Dispatch:
Hanover Law Enforcement Plans To Buy Opioid Antidote
Hanover County Sheriff David R. Hines said this month that his officers will begin this year carrying a drug that can reverse heroin and painkiller overdoses. The announcement that the Hanover Sheriff’s Office plans to buy Narcan, a brand of naloxone, came during a speech Hines gave to Hanover’s Board of Supervisors at a special county budget meeting. (Thompson, 2/26)
Columbus Dispatch:
Columbus Police To Expand Naloxone Pilot Program
More Columbus police officers will be issued naloxone after nearly five dozen heroin users were saved from overdosing during a six-month pilot program. (Burger, 2/27)
