Cocaine Babies Are Everyone's Problem


December 27, 1992|By Sam Fenton, Lake County Editor

Who shall care for the children?

In normal family situations, parents tend to their children, even if they have some physical or mental problems.

Agencies like the local Association for Retarded Citizens help mentally disabled children and young adults through the Sunrise Workshop. Green Isle Children's Ranch helps emotionally troubled youngsters, Lake Hills School in Eustis ministers to the profoundly mentally disabled, and, of course, our public schools have specialists for the learning disabled.

But who shall care for the children - the ones who through no fault of their own are addicted to crack cocaine and/or alcohol even before they are born?

Sadly, hardly anyone.

ARC, Green Isle, Lake Hills and the Au Clair School for autistic children on Lake Carlton have found a nitch in the American conscience and receive public and private support, or both. But somehow it just isn't ''in'' to take on the cause of crack babies, most of whom come from poor, single-parent homes clinging to the outermost fringes of mainstream society.

Life is a living hell for these children. Addicted while still in the womb, many of these youngsters have a unique combination of problems. They have low IQ's, are hyperactive, throw tantrums, have trouble concentrating and relating to others, and suffer speech and language problems.

Yet by the thousands, these children are now entering public school systems that have precious little information about them and absolutely no comprehensive teaching program to help them overcome the trauma of their terribly unfair birthright.

That's why Mount Dora's Ken Mazik established the Jovius Foundation. Through his background as founder of the Au Clair school and his lifelong work with children, Mazik wants first to do the necessary research to identify neurodevelopmental, learning and behavior problems created by prenatal exposure to drugs such as cocaine and alcohol.

Second, the Jovius Foundation is dedicated to applying that research to these ''at risk'' children in a comprehensive educational program that meets their unique needs.

As a first step, the foundation surveyed 640 family court judges and court-appointed special advocates for children.

The results were staggering.

When asked what percentage of children entering their court or agency would be considered ''at risk,'' the judges and advocates estimated a full 60 percent would meet the definition of being prenatally exposed to drugs and/or alcohol and born into environments featuring problems associated with drug use.

The greatest problem for these judges and advocates is that very little information is available on how to help these children once the court or agency intervenes.

Astonishingly, only 19 percent of those responding to the spring 1992 survey said information about appropriate programs was available to them when decisions were made about a course of action for these children.

Mazik said the Jovius Foundation is dedicated to obtaining more scientific research on crack babies and then applying it to specially designed programs to help these youngsters eventually lead normal productive lives.

He points out the problem will only grow bigger. After all, crack cocaine and alcohol use among pregnant women shows no signs of letting up. What's more, crack babies eventually will grow up and have babies themselves, thus compounding a problem that already is reaching nearly epidemic proportions.

Every American taxpayer has a stake in the Jovius Foundation's work. Why? Because those taxpayers eventually will have to foot the bill for the special education programs needed to bring these unfortunate youngsters back from the living hell they were born into.

In this country, the courts have consistently ruled that every child has the right to a public education. In extreme cases, that can mean annual expenditures of as much as $90,000, just for one child.

Mazik knows the foundation faces a steep uphill road. Crack babies aren't a popular cause. Legislators duck conversations about funding because taking up the cause of crack babies won't win them any votes.

Charitable foundations and trusts look the other way because crack babies aren't part of the image they want to project.

So who will take care of these children?

At least the Jovius Foundation is trying, but how about the rest of us?

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