Reveal

They Followed Doctors’ Orders. The State Took Their Babies.

Aug 31, 2024

Jade Dass, a mother navigating the challenges of opioid addiction treatment during pregnancy, shares her harrowing story. After following medical advice, she faced an investigation by child welfare authorities and lost custody of her newborn daughter. The podcast delves into systemic issues surrounding addiction medicine and the stigmatization of mothers using prescribed medications. It sheds light on racial biases in child welfare policies and highlights Jade's desperate fight to keep her family together against a backdrop of legal complexities and societal judgment.

51:17

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Episode guests

Jade Dass

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Jade Dass's experience illustrates the conflict between public health initiatives and punitive legal actions against mothers using addiction treatment medications during pregnancy.

The systemic biases within the child welfare system perpetuate trauma for families like Jade's, highlighting the urgent need for reform in addiction treatment policies.

Deep dives

The Journey Begins

A young family embarks on a camping trip in Wyoming, cherishing moments together amidst nature. However, their adventure takes a dark turn when Jade Doss, the mother, realizes they are being tracked by the police due to a previous child welfare investigation. This situation originated from her legal use of Suboxone, a medication for opioid addiction, during her pregnancy. Unbeknownst to Jade, this prescribed medication would lead to a painful separation from her newborn daughter.

Intro

2min

A Mother's Fight for Her Child

15min

The Perils of Prescriptions: A Mother's Loss

2min

The Stigmatization of Pregnant Women in Addiction Treatment

14min

Battling the System: A Mother's Fight for Her Child

17min

Legislative Changes and Support for Mothers in Recovery

2min

Jade Dass was taking medication to treat her addiction to opioids before she became pregnant. Scientific studies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that taking addiction-treatment medications during pregnancy leads to the best outcomes for both mothers and babies. But after Dass delivered a healthy daughter, the hospital reported her to the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

Even as medications like Suboxone help pregnant women safely treat addiction, taking them can trigger investigations by child welfare agencies that separate mothers from their newborns. Why are women like Dass being investigated for using addiction-treatment medications during pregnancy?

To understand the scope of the dragnet, reporter Shoshana Walter, data reporter Melissa Lewis and a team of Reveal researchers and lawyers filed 100 public records requests, putting together the first-ever tally of how often women are reported to child welfare agencies for taking prescription drugs during pregnancy.

This week on Reveal, in an episode we first aired in July 2023, we follow Dass as she grapples with losing custody of her baby—and makes one last desperate attempt to keep her family together.

For more about Dass and other mothers facing investigation for taking medication-assisted treatment, read Walter’s investigation in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine.

This is an update of an episode that originally aired in July 2023.

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