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0:20

From the Center for Investigative Reporting and

0:22

PRX, this is Reveal.

0:24

I'm Al Edson. In

0:26

the late summer of 2021, a young

0:29

family is camping in Wyoming. They're

0:32

staying at a campsite that looks

0:34

out at a pristine mountain lake. They

0:37

even see antelope.

0:38

We saw a few of those, and that

0:41

was cool. I didn't think there was antelope in

0:43

the United States, but there is apparently.

0:45

Jade Doss, her boyfriend

0:48

Ryan Benais, and their baby girl

0:50

are spending their days listening to

0:52

music in the tent, fishing, and

0:54

eating peaches from a farm stand.

0:56

It's just fun, relaxing, and at night

0:59

we would look at the stars and kind of just

1:01

cherish each other's company.

1:03

After a week or so, the

1:05

family packs up their Ford Explorer and

1:07

leaves the mountains of Wyoming. Next

1:10

stop, South Dakota. They

1:12

stay in a house on a farm. But

1:15

then one day, Jade sees two

1:17

police cars driving down the long,

1:19

dusty road towards the farm.

1:21

I don't know how they even found out

1:24

that we were there. This is

1:26

not just a family road trip. Later

1:29

I come to find out that they were tracking

1:31

the cell phone. And it's so stupid

1:34

to not have gotten rid of it, but we didn't think

1:36

it was that serious. We didn't think

1:38

that our case met the qualifications

1:41

for justifying that

1:43

big of a manhunt. About

1:46

a month before, this young family

1:48

fled their home in Arizona out of fear

1:50

they might have to give up custody of their

1:53

child. They crossed half

1:55

a dozen states, drove over a thousand

1:57

miles. That day at the farm.

1:59

the farm, Jade hid from the police,

2:02

but afterwards, she and Ryan

2:04

head east with the baby towards Iowa.

2:06

After a long day of driving, they

2:09

park their SUV for the night in a Sam's

2:11

Club parking lot in Sioux City.

2:14

A few hours later, Jade wakes up

2:16

to blinding lights. She squints

2:18

and sees a gun. Get

2:20

your hands up! Get your hands up! Do

2:23

not move unless you're told to do so. Do you understand

2:25

me? Their daughter is seven

2:28

months old and has just started to

2:30

say, Papa, we're not using

2:32

the baby's name to protect her privacy.

2:34

Jade is hugging her, telling

2:37

her she loves her. When an officer

2:39

yanks open the door, Jade raises

2:42

her arms in the air and prays her

2:44

baby won't fall. Can you put your baby somewhere?

2:47

I'll take the baby. Throw

2:49

your window down farther. One officer

2:52

takes the baby.

2:53

Another clicks a pair of handcuffs on

2:55

Jade. Sit down. She

2:59

pleads with them. You know what's going on. You

3:01

ain't supposed to have this child. They tell

3:03

her she knows she's not supposed

3:05

to have this child.

3:10

What did this family do to justify

3:13

this manhunt? It all

3:15

started because Jade was taking a prescribed

3:18

legal medication. The drug is called

3:20

Suboxone. Suboxone is

3:22

a treatment for opioid addiction. It

3:25

prevents withdrawal and curbs cravings. It's

3:27

considered the gold standard for millions

3:29

of Americans in recovery, including

3:32

pregnant mothers. Jade took it when

3:34

she was pregnant, but it's one of a

3:36

number of legally prescribed medications

3:38

that in many states can trigger a child abuse

3:41

or neglect investigation. That's

3:43

what happened to Jade and eventually turned

3:45

her family into fugitives. Reveals,

3:48

Shoshana Walter has been looking into cases

3:51

of new mothers being investigated for taking

3:53

medication to treat addiction during

3:55

their pregnancies. Medications like

3:57

methadone or Suboxone. She

3:59

found...

3:59

thousands of them, including Jade.

4:02

I

4:05

was on Facebook reading through posts from

4:07

parents who were dealing with child welfare cases,

4:10

and I stumbled upon this post by Jade.

4:12

She was looking for advice on how she could

4:15

fight her case and get her baby back. So

4:18

in March of 2022, about

4:20

six months after the police took her baby

4:22

and arrested Jade, I go to

4:24

visit her in person at her trailer home in

4:27

Apache Junction, which is about 45 minutes

4:30

outside of Phoenix. Hi. How

4:34

are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm

4:36

good, thank you. Jade walks

4:38

out to greet me.

4:39

She is a shy person, more comfortable

4:42

hiding behind layers of makeup,

4:44

but today she's not wearing any. She's

4:47

in her late 20s but looks younger.

4:49

Her long brown hair dangles down her back,

4:52

and she's wearing socks and sandals. Tell me where

4:54

we are for a moment, Jade. Yeah,

4:56

so this is where I live. She

4:58

walks me back to their trailer. It works

5:01

for us for now. This was

5:03

the only place Jade and Ryan could afford

5:05

when they first came back after getting out of jail.

5:08

We're gonna move into a bigger place soon, so.

5:10

The trailer is tidy and cozy.

5:13

There are two lazy boy chairs in the front room,

5:15

and we sit down. Ryan

5:18

is there, but he doesn't wanna talk. Jade

5:20

wants to tell her story. Here's all this

5:23

light that we have to deal with. Jade

5:26

grew up in Phoenix with her younger sister

5:28

and her parents.

5:29

She's Native American, South Asian,

5:31

and white. She didn't know

5:34

her extended family for the most part, and

5:36

for short stretches of time, she

5:38

was in foster care or lived with her grandma

5:40

and her aunt.

5:41

Her parents were neglectful and sometimes

5:44

abusive, and her mom struggled

5:46

with addiction. So I suffered

5:49

with abandonment from my mother at

5:51

a very young age, and

5:53

I know my mother suffered from rejection

5:56

from her mother.

5:57

Jade learned to withdraw into herself.

6:01

She liked the company of books and birds

6:03

more than people. As she got older,

6:05

she occasionally got into trouble with the law.

6:08

Then in her early 20s, she met Ryan

6:11

on a dating app. I told him what was going

6:13

on with my family and my past,

6:15

and he said, well, if you ever need to come

6:17

here, like, just stay with me whenever you want to

6:19

and just come hang out.

6:21

They got serious fast. Soon

6:24

they were living together. Jade

6:26

wasn't used to Ryan's quiet, stable

6:28

life. But she liked it. He

6:31

helped me to get a job. So

6:33

I got my very first job as a waitress,

6:36

a server at Hot and Juicy Crawfish.

6:39

It's like a super hipster place. It's

6:41

where all the ASU kids go to party.

6:44

At first, Jade and Ryan just partied together

6:46

on weekends, enjoying their new life as

6:48

a couple. Eventually, they

6:51

started using tiny blue pills they

6:53

thought were OxyContin.

6:58

It turns out those pills were fentanyl

7:01

and very difficult to stop. Soon

7:03

they lost their jobs, and after their money

7:06

ran out, they lost their apartment. I

7:08

just went downhill fast. We

7:11

just became homeless quickly

7:14

and just

7:17

consumed us for like a year.

7:19

One night in 2019, they

7:21

were in a drug-induced haze when Jade

7:24

became convinced someone was following them.

7:27

They broke into a nearby house where a

7:29

resident held them at gunpoint until

7:31

the police arrived and arrested them for trespassing.

7:35

After getting out of jail, Ryan and Jade were

7:37

done.

7:38

They went to rehab and got on Suboxone.

7:43

The basic idea behind Suboxone is

7:45

that it helps people get off opioids by

7:48

eliminating the physical and mental

7:50

symptoms of withdrawal.

7:52

Instead of cravings, you can just focus on

7:54

whatever you need to resume a normal life. But

7:57

Jade and Ryan were having trouble finding a place

7:59

to live. and they were having trouble holding

8:02

down jobs. They didn't have a car

8:04

and ended up at a horse farm where they worked

8:06

for housing but no pay. Jade

8:09

was arrested a few times for shoplifting. We

8:12

just were not in a good place and

8:16

that was very unsettling

8:18

to me. And

8:21

then Jade discovered that

8:23

she was pregnant. We were both

8:25

unemployed living in this bedroom

8:29

but at the same time, I just

8:31

felt kind of qualified, I guess. I

8:33

don't know

8:33

if that's arrogant to say but

8:35

I just felt like I would be a good mother.

8:38

When Jade learns she's pregnant, one

8:40

of her first thoughts is, should she stay

8:43

on Suboxone? My main concern

8:45

was, is this safe and is it ideal

8:48

even to take while pregnant? Is

8:51

it gonna cause serious complications

8:53

or any complications at all?

8:56

So she starts doing research. She

8:58

reads studies, she talks to a couple

9:00

of healthcare providers who tell her yes,

9:03

pregnant women can take Suboxone. Arizona's

9:07

Medicaid agency and the CDC

9:09

both urge women to take treatment meds

9:12

and studies show this leads to the best outcomes

9:15

for both mothers and babies.

9:18

In fact, it's extremely dangerous

9:20

to stop taking Suboxone mid pregnancy.

9:24

Stopping can cause miscarriage or very

9:26

premature birth. I talked

9:28

to several doctors who backed all of this up.

9:32

Jade determines she should stay on it

9:35

and she and Ryan turn their attention to more

9:37

pressing problems.

9:39

Even though they're sober, they're still

9:42

struggling. When

9:44

Jade is around seven months pregnant, Ryan's

9:47

dad wires them money.

9:49

They buy a car and drive to Sedona where

9:51

Ryan quickly finds a job.

9:54

They move into a campground where a bunch of other

9:56

low-wage workers live.

9:58

They start saving money to buy a more. permanent

10:00

home, an RV. They're

10:03

still living in the car when Jade goes

10:05

into labor. All of

10:07

a sudden, I just felt this rush

10:10

of liquid on my legs.

10:12

And I knew right away that my water broke.

10:15

Ryan drives quickly to the hospital. Jade

10:18

is scared. What if the hospital

10:21

treats them like they're homeless? She

10:23

wants to put on a full face of makeup, fix

10:26

her hair so she doesn't look so scrubby. But

10:28

Ryan's like, no, we don't have time for that. Let's

10:30

go.

10:31

Jade goes through the intake process. She

10:34

tells the nurse that she's on Suboxone. She

10:37

just wrote it down on her computer, and then at some

10:39

point she had me take her drug test. They

10:41

take her to the delivery room.

10:44

She gets an epidural,

10:46

and then the nurses came in, and they

10:48

just said, start pushing. So

10:51

I did.

10:54

She delivers a baby girl. And

10:57

then they handed her to me. She

11:01

was making baby noises.

11:03

Not like a full-on cry, but she was like, hey.

11:06

And then when they put her on my chest, she immediately

11:09

quieted down. Jade

11:11

feels an overwhelming

11:14

feeling of love. I

11:16

remember looking at her and thinking, how tiny

11:18

and precious. She was

11:20

a part of me. If someone took my heart,

11:23

and it was now separated from me, and

11:25

I could see it over there.

11:30

She and Ryan are totally enamored

11:32

with their daughter, her jerky little movements

11:34

and her wrinkly skin. They're

11:37

just staring at her and feeling really complete,

11:39

like a complete family.

11:42

Hospital staff note that Jade is attentive

11:44

and bonding well with her daughter, that

11:47

the baby is comforted in her mother's arms.

11:50

Jade has no idea that her prescribed

11:52

medication

11:53

could

11:56

tear her family apart. The

12:02

drug urine test she takes shows

12:04

that Jade is not taking any illegal

12:07

drugs. The suboxone worked.

12:10

She delivered a healthy baby and she

12:12

stayed sober. The hospital

12:14

even prescribed it to her while she was there.

12:18

Still, state law requires hospitals

12:21

to report any baby born exposed

12:23

to controlled substances,

12:25

including suboxone.

12:33

The first time Jade realizes something

12:35

might be wrong is when a nurse comes

12:37

into the room a couple hours later. The

12:40

nurse tells them they might have to take the baby

12:43

and transfer her to another hospital if

12:45

she shows significant signs of withdrawal.

12:49

Jade had read about the effects suboxone

12:51

can have on babies. The

12:53

medication can sometimes cause

12:55

withdrawal symptoms, but they're temporary

12:58

and treatable. So far, studies

13:01

show the medication doesn't have any

13:03

other side effects for babies. And

13:05

the best thing is for mom and baby

13:08

to stay together. We were just

13:11

totally against it. We were like just

13:13

did not like that idea. Like I wanted to

13:16

breastfeed her. She's

13:18

a newborn

13:19

and like she just needed to be with me. After

13:22

some time, the nurse comes back and says,

13:24

okay, we'll keep the baby here for

13:26

monitoring. But just so you know,

13:29

we're going to be calling DCS,

13:31

the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

13:35

Jade is so relieved that she doesn't really think

13:37

about what the nurse said.

13:41

The hospital calls the department's Child

13:43

Abuse and Neglect Reporting Hotline.

13:46

And within about two hours, Jade's

13:48

case is assigned to an investigator. At

13:52

first, Jade assumes DCS is concerned

13:54

about their housing status. But

13:57

when she gets on a video chat with the investigator,

13:59

Jade says the first question is not

14:02

about that. It's about Jade's own

14:04

history in the child welfare system

14:06

as a kid. Her next question

14:08

was, so why are you

14:11

taking suboxone? And

14:13

I didn't know how to answer that.

14:19

Jade quickly concludes that

14:21

the investigator's main concern is

14:23

not housing. It's about her

14:25

suboxone and whether or not she's

14:27

abusing drugs. She's

14:30

worried about telling the truth about her past

14:32

addiction. So she tells the investigator,

14:35

it all started when she took pain pills for

14:37

a back injury. She

14:39

thinks that she can solve this problem by

14:41

simply showing the investigator her prescription.

14:45

So Ryan brings in a prescription bottle, which

14:47

has her name on the label, but that's

14:49

not enough.

14:51

Every detail seems to count as

14:53

a ding against them.

14:55

After Ryan goes back to work,

14:57

the investigator has a hard time reaching

14:59

him and describes him as absent. A

15:02

nurse tells the investigator that Jade's

15:05

demeanor seems flat, that

15:07

she wasn't holding the baby constantly while

15:09

she slept. To Jade,

15:12

it's like the investigator is viewing everything

15:14

going on in her and Ryan's life through

15:17

the worst possible lens. I

15:19

was freaked out about these

15:21

people, their odd behavior

15:23

and of their accusatory tone was

15:27

just very off putting.

15:29

Jade is scared and withdrawn.

15:32

She feels like she's being attacked and questioned

15:34

for no reason. And when

15:37

Ryan is told to take a drug test, he

15:39

calls the drug testing employees Nazis

15:42

and accuses them of trying to help steal

15:45

his kid. The investigator

15:47

calls his behavior bizarre and

15:50

erratic.

15:51

All of these details, plus the fact

15:54

that they're homeless, make their way

15:56

into the agency's report. And

15:58

on February 8th, 2021, a

16:01

week after the baby is born, the

16:03

investigator comes into the hospital room

16:06

and hands Jade a court order requiring

16:09

her to turn the baby over immediately.

16:12

I was trying to call Ryan, I was trying to call

16:14

my dad, no one was picking up.

16:17

So I did that for like 10 minutes trying to make calls

16:19

frantically.

16:21

She's doing whatever she can to stall

16:23

them. And then finally she thinks,

16:26

this is a total misunderstanding. I'm

16:28

just taking a prescription

16:31

medication. They'll

16:33

have to see that and they'll return

16:35

her to me. And then I

16:38

teared up and I said, I'm really sorry.

16:40

And I was crying.

16:43

I told her I'm sorry. So

16:47

she gives her newborn over to the nurse and

16:49

the investigator and they walk

16:51

out of the room. It

16:54

was just like pure despair. I

16:56

don't even know how to explain it.

17:04

Jade is in shock that her suboxone

17:06

has set off a chain of events that

17:09

leads to the state taking her baby. And

17:12

Jade is not alone. How we

17:14

got here, next on Reveal. I

17:27

know, I know it's hard.

17:37

You

17:40

wait all week for this podcast and then

17:43

it's over and you find yourself wanting more.

17:46

Let me make a recommendation.

17:49

The Reveal newsletter. It goes behind

17:51

the scenes into how we make

17:53

and report these stories. Sign

17:55

up now at revealnews.org slash

17:58

newsletter.

18:03

From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX,

18:06

this is Reveal, I'm Al Ledson.

18:09

Jade Doss's baby was barely a

18:11

week old when the state took her away. Arizona's

18:14

Department of Child Safety, known widely

18:16

as DCS, accused the parents

18:19

of using illicit substances.

18:21

The investigator handed Jade a custody

18:24

notice with a long checklist of allegations,

18:27

including some completely unrelated

18:29

to their case.

18:29

They said the caregiver

18:32

is unable to perform essential parental responsibilities

18:35

due to substance use, mental illness, physical

18:37

impairment, cognitive limitations.

18:39

But Jade was taking Suboxone,

18:42

a legally prescribed medication to treat

18:44

opioid addiction. And it was working. She

18:47

hadn't relapsed, and her baby was born

18:49

healthy almost seven pounds with

18:51

a near-perfect Apgar score, a

18:54

measure of newborn health.

18:55

She was born a healthy

18:57

weight. She was eating. She was doing

18:59

what babies do. She appeared

19:02

and was behaving perfectly healthy.

19:06

But DCS claimed Jade's

19:07

baby would be in danger in her custody,

19:10

alleging that her use of illicit substances

19:12

could result in severe injury to the child

19:15

or even

19:15

death. I just couldn't believe it

19:17

that people would act like this, like

19:20

how they couldn't see. Like it's like,

19:24

you have no humanity if you're

19:27

going to take someone's baby.

19:30

Reveals Shoshana Walter wanted to

19:32

understand how common that was and

19:34

discovered Jade is one of thousands

19:37

of women across the country who've been

19:39

reported to Child Protective Services for

19:41

taking treatment meds like Suboxone and

19:43

methadone during pregnancy. The

19:45

reason why has

19:46

to do with a series of drug laws

19:49

that go back decades. Joe

19:51

Explains. the

20:00

country. The epidemic is so new

20:02

that scientists don't know much about the long-term

20:05

effects of crack before birth. One

20:07

of the first major studies about newborns

20:09

exposed to crack came from a Chicago

20:11

pediatrician in 1985. Dr. Ira

20:14

Chaznov's study claimed

20:16

that these babies were less interactive

20:18

and moodier than newborns whose mothers hadn't

20:21

used the drug.

20:23

When it was published it was all over the

20:25

news and that's when a new term spread

20:27

across the country. Crack babies, these

20:29

children, suffer brain damage or

20:31

often... Miami. Ten crack babies are

20:34

born every day. We've seen so many pictures

20:36

of these crack-addicted babies hooked up to respirators

20:39

trying to fight their way through those first

20:41

critical days after birth.

20:42

But new studies soon showed

20:44

the plight of so-called crack babies had been

20:47

wildly overstated.

20:49

Within a few years we learned that it was actually

20:51

poverty and a child's environment that

20:53

had a greater impact on their overall development.

20:56

Still the damage was done. Law

20:58

enforcement started arresting hundreds of

21:01

women for using drugs during their pregnancies.

21:04

States began passing laws that made drug use

21:06

during pregnancy a form of child abuse.

21:09

Child welfare agencies now take

21:11

newborns from their mothers and place them

21:13

in foster care. The crack baby

21:16

was a made-up

21:17

monster that was then

21:20

used to develop this

21:22

extremely punitive and

21:25

novel approach to the

21:27

public health problem of drug use during

21:30

pregnancy. It was treated for the first time

21:32

as a crime and it only

21:34

was treated as a crime because the

21:37

women targeted were black women.

21:39

Dorothy Roberts is an author, sociologist,

21:41

and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

21:45

She spent decades investigating structural

21:47

racism within the child welfare system.

21:59

while pregnant. Black women

22:02

were 10 times more likely to be

22:04

reported to authorities by their

22:06

doctors.

22:09

The nation's overall response to the crack

22:11

epidemic was punishment. But

22:15

when the opioid epidemic hit in the mid-90s...

22:17

This is probably the worst drug situation

22:20

in our country in decades, if not

22:22

a century. The response was

22:24

vastly different.

22:28

The opioid epidemic began with the

22:30

introduction of highly addictive prescription

22:33

painkillers such as OxyContin.

22:35

America's addiction to opioids is

22:37

playing out right down the street, in

22:39

its grip, every type of person

22:41

you can imagine. Successful

22:43

people, funny people, moms,

22:46

dads, grandparents, injured athletes,

22:49

cancer patients.

22:52

White Americans had greater access

22:54

to insurance and prescriptions, far

22:57

more than people of color. So white

22:59

communities were soon flooded with addictive

23:01

pain pills. Suddenly, news

23:04

coverage struck an entirely different tone.

23:06

Chances are greater than ever. You know

23:08

someone directly affected. This

23:11

time lawmakers reacted with something

23:14

closer to compassion. Congress

23:16

passed the Drug Addiction Treatment Act

23:18

in 2000. Lawmakers

23:22

were no longer describing addiction as a crime

23:24

or a moral failing. Now they were talking

23:26

about it as a treatable disease.

23:28

It does not solve all the problems

23:31

that keep individuals and families enslaved

23:33

and encumbered by addiction. But it makes

23:36

a start. The

23:37

act paved the way for new addiction

23:39

treatment medications like Suboxone. Treatment

23:42

with Suboxone can reduce withdrawal

23:44

symptoms and lower the risk of overdose. Now

23:47

instead of going to jail, people like Jade

23:50

struggling with opioid addiction could receive

23:52

treatment out of a doctor's office. With

23:54

a prescription they could take at home.

23:57

Suboxone soon became the standard.

24:00

And the country's concept of what's good for

24:02

mothers and babies began to change.

24:05

Researchers found that pregnant women with opioid addiction

24:08

fared better on treatment medications.

24:10

And so did their babies. So for mom,

24:12

she's less likely to relapse, have an overdose

24:15

and die. And for the infant, they're more

24:17

likely to go to term and have higher birth

24:19

weights. So we know that medications work.

24:22

Dr. Stephen Patrick is the director

24:24

of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy.

24:27

He's published dozens of studies on the topic

24:30

and consulted for the federal government on laws

24:32

related to addiction and infant health.

24:35

He and other researchers have found that keeping

24:37

babies with their mothers also leads

24:39

to better outcomes for both of them.

24:42

So if we're really trying to have healthy moms

24:44

and babies, we want a mom in treatment who's

24:46

doing well, a baby who is in the hospital

24:48

as short a period of time as possible that we treat appropriately

24:51

and then is discharged and goes home with

24:53

their biological mother.

24:55

But even with new addiction treatments,

24:57

the opioid crisis kept getting worse.

25:00

From 2000 to 2014, overdose deaths tripled. Federal

25:05

officials felt they needed to do more. So

25:08

in 2016, Congress passed the Comprehensive

25:11

Addiction and Recovery Act, or

25:13

CARA for short. CARA addresses

25:16

the opioid epidemic by expanding

25:18

prevention and education.

25:21

And it also promotes the resources needed

25:23

for that treatment and recovery. The

25:26

law expanded access to medications

25:28

like Suboxone, but it also

25:30

had unintended consequences for

25:32

pregnant women and new mothers on addiction

25:35

treatment medication.

25:37

Under federal law, states had long

25:39

required hospitals to identify newborns

25:41

affected by illegal drugs like

25:44

crack or heroin or meth.

25:47

But the opioid epidemic involved legal

25:49

prescription drugs like painkillers,

25:52

so Congress decided to scratch the word

25:54

illegal. Now under

25:57

CARA, hospitals would have to

25:59

notify authorities.

26:00

any time a baby was born affected by any

26:02

substance, legal

26:04

or illegal. It was really this modification

26:07

from CARA that really escalated

26:10

things. Congress said

26:12

their intent was to flag parents addicted

26:14

to opioids and connect them to services

26:17

and treatment. But the law didn't

26:20

spell out how states should do that, or

26:22

that efforts should be made to keep families together.

26:26

This left it up to states to decide how

26:28

to intervene when prescription meds were found

26:30

in newborns. In Arizona and

26:32

other states, child welfare agencies

26:35

were already set up to treat drug use during pregnancy

26:38

as child abuse or neglect. And

26:40

now many states started treating prescription

26:42

drugs the same way. In

26:45

effect,

26:45

this law created a dragnet that's

26:48

trapped thousands of new mothers

26:50

across the country. Mothers

26:52

like Jade. Mothers doing the

26:54

right thing by taking their prescribed

26:57

medications to treat their addiction.

26:59

What it does by default is just

27:01

reports more people into the system. Well,

27:03

the system can't actually handle that.

27:05

And what are they supposed to do with it? What is an

27:07

actual plan of safe care? What it ends up being is

27:10

just the same thing that we've always done with

27:12

child welfare. It's not actually connecting people

27:14

to treatment, at least at least what I see.

27:17

The same thing that we've always done with

27:19

child welfare, in this case means

27:21

putting more families under investigation.

27:26

No one has ever tallied just how

27:28

many families have been affected by this policy.

27:32

That is, until I started working with a team at

27:34

Reveal, including data reporter Melissa

27:36

Lewis, to send out public records

27:38

requests to every child welfare agency

27:41

in the country. Almost every

27:43

agency fought back. But

27:45

after extensive negotiations, some

27:48

states sent over usable data. Eight

27:50

in total, plus the District of Columbia.

27:54

And in just those places, we

27:56

found nearly 3,700 women. reported

28:00

for taking addiction treatment medications

28:02

like Suboxone or Methadone, another

28:05

medication for opioid addiction. That's

28:08

thousands of women referred

28:10

to child welfare agencies for

28:12

taking treatment medications that have

28:14

been proven to help both mothers

28:17

and babies. We also found

28:19

women reported for taking other prescription

28:21

drugs during pregnancy, including

28:24

antidepressants, ADHD, and

28:26

anxiety medications. Some

28:28

women, even for the fentanyl

28:29

they received in their epidurals. Often

28:34

referrals prompt little more than a quick

28:36

evaluation of the family's circumstances

28:39

and maybe a connection to services like housing.

28:42

But other times, they lead to a wide-ranging

28:45

investigation that puts a family's entire

28:48

life under a microscope. And

28:50

sometimes, child welfare agencies end

28:53

up taking the baby. I found

28:55

at least 40 babies put into foster

28:57

care after their mothers were reported

29:00

for taking addiction treatment meds during pregnancy.

29:03

When I first took him, I could not

29:05

understand. I did not understand how it happened.

29:07

Like, how did this happen? I hadn't

29:09

felt a drug test in three years prior to having

29:12

him. I went to visit

29:14

him, and I go

29:17

up there to

29:18

visit him. And

29:20

he was gone. He

29:22

wasn't there. Less than

29:25

two hours after he was born, a

29:28

social worker came in the room, and she said, so

29:30

is this one going with your mom in Myrtle Beach too? Because,

29:33

you know, there's no chance he'll ever be coming home

29:35

with you.

29:37

Across the country, women told me

29:39

they were pressured by their caseworkers to

29:41

stop taking Suboxone. In

29:44

Arizona, one investigator told me she

29:46

was taught very little about Suboxone,

29:48

except that it's another drug that she's

29:50

required to investigate.

29:54

I've spent months trying to get a hold

29:56

of Jade's caseworkers and higher-ups at Arizona's

29:59

Department of Child safety. I

30:01

wanted to ask about their practice of investigating

30:04

and separating newborns from their mothers. The

30:07

only person who agreed to a recorded

30:10

interview was Mike Faust. My

30:12

name is Mike Faust. I am the former

30:14

director for Arizona's Department

30:16

of Child Safety. Mike spent more

30:19

than seven years in the agency and

30:21

was the director at DCS as Jade's

30:23

case was moving through the system.

30:25

He says that DCS always aims

30:27

to keep families together, and that

30:30

although medication-assisted treatment, or

30:32

MAT, has been proven to be effective,

30:34

the

30:35

agency's hands are tied by state

30:37

statute. He says if a health

30:40

care provider reports a mom, they

30:42

have to investigate it. I think this

30:44

is where child protection systems, sometimes

30:46

there's misunderstandings of how it works. Ultimately,

30:49

the department's job is to go out and

30:51

do an assessment to ensure

30:54

that the parents

30:57

are capable of meeting the child's needs

30:59

and keeping them safe.

31:00

Is it appropriate for DCS to

31:02

be removing infants from

31:05

parents who took

31:08

nothing but legally prescribed

31:11

medication-assisted treatment during pregnancy?

31:14

I'm not going to give you a yes or no.

31:16

I don't want you to take that as a deflection. At the

31:22

end of the day, the

31:24

key is to

31:26

conduct a safety assessment and

31:29

ultimately determine if the

31:31

parents have the protective capacities to protect

31:34

the child. If there's no other

31:40

prevailing concerns out there

31:42

other than they're taking an

31:44

MAT, to me, that

31:47

would never rise to the level of the safety

31:49

concern. That shouldn't rise

31:51

to the level of

31:53

an intervention requiring out-of-home

31:56

care. And then I asked Mike

31:58

about Jade's case. Is

32:00

that how these cases are supposed

32:02

to go under DCS policy?

32:05

I cannot comment on specific

32:07

cases and there is no, I don't

32:10

have any specific information that would even permit

32:12

me to speak on this. I mean,

32:14

I can't comment on any one specific case.

32:17

After my interview with Mike, a DCS

32:19

spokesperson did get back to me by

32:22

email. He wouldn't discuss

32:24

Jade either, but he said the agency

32:27

only opens investigations involving addiction

32:29

treatment meds when there are other concerns.

32:32

That might include behavior that suggests active

32:34

addiction

32:36

or if the hospital can't confirm the

32:38

mother's prescription.

32:42

In cases such as Jade's, the agency

32:45

will try and place the baby with family

32:47

members. But neither

32:49

of Jade's parents were viable options because

32:51

of their own involvement in the child welfare

32:53

system. So in order to get

32:56

their one week old daughter back, Jade

32:58

and her boyfriend Ryan would have to plead

33:00

their case in court.

33:06

In a moment, Jade and her boyfriend

33:08

go before a judge who will decide

33:11

if they get to keep their baby or

33:14

if she'll stay in foster care.

33:15

We figured that they would return her because

33:17

we thought they were just normal, like reasonable.

33:20

You know, they were going to be reasonable about it and

33:23

just kind of see that it wasn't necessary

33:26

for her safety or for anyone's safety,

33:28

just the opposite. It was, you

33:30

know, she's a newborn baby and she needs

33:32

to be with her mother.

33:33

That's next on

33:35

Reveal.

33:54

Hi, y'all. My name is Nadia

33:56

Hamdan and I'm a producer here at Reveal.

34:00

Reveal is a non-profit news

34:02

organization and we depend on support

34:04

from our listeners. Donate

34:06

today at revealnews.org

34:09

slash donate.

34:10

And thanks.

34:14

From the

34:16

Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX,

34:19

this is Reveal. I'm Al Edson.

34:23

The Department of Child Safety takes custody

34:25

of Jade Doss and Ryan Bonet's baby

34:28

just one week after she's born. Jade

34:31

and Ryan leave the hospital with all their supplies,

34:33

a car seat, a bassinet, diapers,

34:36

but not their little girl. Now

34:38

they have to convince a judge to let them keep

34:40

their baby.

34:44

Jade thinks all of this must be

34:46

a misunderstanding. She's taking

34:48

a prescribed medication. Surely

34:50

the judge will see that. A

34:53

few days before the hearing, they buy a

34:55

new home, an RV, and are

34:57

feeling confident. But

35:00

the judge decides to keep the baby

35:03

in foster care. To

35:05

get her back, Jade and Ryan have to

35:07

complete what's called a case plan. If

35:10

they don't, in six months,

35:12

they could lose their daughter forever.

35:14

It terrified me.

35:17

I freaked out when I heard that. I was like,

35:20

how could they even say something like that? They're

35:22

going to adopt my daughter away.

35:26

Like, take my child permanently.

35:31

Reveals Shoshana Walter takes

35:33

it from here. The

35:36

case plan ordered by the judge includes

35:39

regular drug testing, counseling,

35:41

parenting classes, home inspections.

35:44

A caseworker will monitor their progress,

35:47

make note of every misstep or mistake. And

35:49

a lot of the cost is on Jade and Ryan,

35:52

juggling work hours to visit their daughter, paying

35:55

gas for their visits. It's almost a

35:57

three-hour round trip.

35:59

fee to the state, sort

36:01

of a reimbursement for foster care. Basically,

36:05

they have six months to prove themselves

36:07

to Arizona's Department of Child Safety.

36:10

In the meantime, Jade

36:12

rereads DCS's report to the judge.

36:16

It explains why the agency took her

36:18

newborn, and it's filled with major

36:20

errors, including many the judge repeated

36:23

in her order to keep the baby in foster

36:25

care.

36:25

For example, mothers neglecting

36:28

the child due to substance abuse. I don't

36:30

know how they could say that.

36:32

Jade and her baby take multiple drug tests.

36:36

The only thing found in their systems

36:38

is the Suboxone prescription. The

36:41

judge's order also states that the baby was

36:43

harmed because she suffered from withdrawal.

36:46

The child exhibited withdrawal symptoms

36:48

from Suboxone at the time of birth and

36:50

had to be hospitalized for same.

36:52

But hospital records show the baby was healthy.

36:56

She didn't seem to have any significant

36:58

withdrawal symptoms. Even

37:00

if she did, withdrawal symptoms are

37:02

temporary and treatable. And

37:05

the healthiest thing for babies is

37:07

her mom's to keep taking Suboxone

37:09

during their pregnancies. And then

37:12

Jade notices the records keep

37:14

referring to a law that she hasn't heard of, the

37:17

Indian Child Welfare Act. I

37:19

was looking at the checklist thing

37:21

like the initial paper that she gave

37:23

me and it said, has the

37:26

tribe been contacted? And then I

37:28

just made note, it's not checked off, but I was like,

37:31

wait a minute, the tribe? Why would they

37:33

contact them?

37:38

Jade is a member of the Gila River Indian

37:41

community, but she didn't grow up with the tribe.

37:44

She Googles the law. Essentially,

37:47

it's a federal law passed in 1978 in

37:50

response to states taking a huge number

37:53

of Native American children from their homes,

37:56

up to one in three. This

37:59

law was supposed to

37:59

ensure that child welfare agencies

38:02

remove children only in the most extreme

38:04

circumstances and not

38:06

due to poverty or substance abuse alone.

38:10

And if the state still decided to remove

38:12

a child, they had to tell the tribe

38:14

and try to place the child with family.

38:17

Jade felt like DCS and the judge were

38:19

ignoring these requirements and

38:22

violating the law. And I just

38:24

got super excited and hopeful, like

38:26

it would help solve all of these things and

38:29

help me to get my daughter back.

38:32

So instead of complying with the case plan,

38:35

Jade decides the best way to get her

38:37

baby back is to fight it.

38:41

Now almost everybody I talked to said

38:43

this is a bad idea. Child

38:45

welfare agencies have near unilateral

38:48

power. Disagreeing, being

38:50

evasive, not cooperating, are

38:52

viewed as more evidence that you don't have good

38:54

judgment that you're hiding something, that

38:57

you're an unfit parent. But

38:59

Jade is convinced she hasn't done anything wrong.

39:02

Agreeing to the case plan would be like pleading guilty

39:05

to a crime she didn't commit. If I

39:07

wasn't taking illicit drugs, then why

39:09

do I need to take drug counseling?

39:12

So it just didn't make sense to me and I thought

39:14

like if I started doing that stuff,

39:17

it would prolong the case.

39:19

She does the drug tests, she gets her

39:21

suboxone treatment records, she attends

39:23

monitored visits with her daughter, but

39:25

otherwise Jade rejects the case

39:27

plan. And

39:30

the months go on. Jade and Ryan

39:33

file legal motions to dismiss the case,

39:36

but the judge continually denies the

39:38

requests. And as the six-month

39:40

deadline approaches, it seems more

39:43

and more likely that Jade's parental rights

39:45

will be terminated. Finally,

39:48

the tribe makes a motion to transfer

39:50

the case. She told me that they would

39:52

be taking the case. And

39:55

I was just relieved, but then I was wanting

39:57

to know what was the next

39:59

step.

40:03

That relief is short-lived. Tribal

40:05

social services does not see Jade

40:08

as a fit parent because she still has open

40:10

charges, including for misdemeanor shoplifting.

40:14

When Jade and Ryan finally appear in tribal

40:16

court,

40:17

the judge returns the baby to Ryan, not

40:19

to Jade. Jade's not even allowed

40:22

to live with her. And the judge stated

40:24

that if I were to get arrested,

40:27

it would traumatize her. So therefore,

40:30

I could not be around her unsupervised.

40:33

Jade feels betrayed. I wanted to

40:35

talk with tribal social services, but

40:38

a spokesperson said they couldn't discuss Jade's

40:40

case because of confidentiality

40:42

laws.

40:43

The tribe's decision means Jade can't be

40:46

alone with her own kid. But Ryan

40:48

works and can't always be around to supervise

40:50

her.

40:51

And they can't afford daycare.

40:53

So Jade starts taking care of her daughter alone.

40:57

She knows she's not supposed to.

41:01

The caseworker suspects that the couple is violating

41:04

the case plan and demands to see the baby.

41:07

Jade gets spooked. We were just panicking.

41:10

And we thought they were going to take her again.

41:14

And so they decide to run. It's

41:18

like we were being chased by like a monster or something.

41:20

We just threw everything in a car and ran.

41:24

They pack up the car and leave the RV

41:26

behind. They tell the caseworker

41:28

they're on their way. A few

41:30

hours later, the caseworker realizes

41:33

they're not coming. She texts,

41:35

where are you? Jade

41:38

ignores the message. And they cross

41:40

state lines. I don't know. We just thought

41:42

they would leave us alone. Kind of leave it at that.

41:44

But that didn't happen,

41:46

of course.

41:49

But first,

41:50

Jade tries to pretend like they're on some fun

41:53

family road trip. I remember

41:55

the landscape started to change and we started

41:57

to see more trees and

41:59

go. They got into kind of higher elevation. They

42:02

drive to this town in Wyoming surrounded

42:05

by pine trees. And they stay at this

42:07

campground on a lake. I remember

42:09

the water was like crystal clear

42:11

when you would go on the beach and like, you know, put

42:13

your feet in. They go for walks

42:16

into town and see other families with their

42:18

minivans. People comment on

42:20

how cute the baby is. I had a

42:22

little carrier for her, like, you know, with a

42:24

little, where she was like strapped

42:26

onto me and we would just take walks like that.

42:29

For the first

42:29

time, Jade feels like

42:32

she's being looked at as a mother. And

42:35

other families are looking at her and Ryan

42:37

and the baby and they're seeing a family.

42:40

She feels seen. It's

42:42

a wonderful feeling. For

42:45

both me and Ryan is definitely one of the better

42:47

times in our lives that we shared

42:49

together.

42:52

But at the same time, Jade

42:54

is terrified. Every time

42:56

they see a police car, they worry about

42:59

getting caught and losing their daughter again. And

43:02

they're running out of money. So

43:04

Ryan finds a farmhand job and they head to

43:06

South Dakota. The farmer

43:08

offers them an old wooden house to stay in and

43:11

they start settling in. Yeah, I was just

43:13

cleaning up the yard, cleaning up the

43:15

house and just trying to make it like a

43:17

home.

43:19

But Jade's fears don't go away.

43:23

One day, she looks out the window and

43:25

sees two SUVs turn

43:27

down their dirt road. I was like,

43:30

whoa, what is this? It

43:32

looks like some kind of cops. And

43:34

I could see the living room window they had parked

43:37

in front of our house. She

43:39

hears men step out of their cars and come

43:41

to the door. She doesn't answer.

43:44

They start walking around the house and

43:46

she can see them peering through the window.

43:48

My heart started racing and

43:51

pounding. And I was like, this

43:53

can't be real. She hugs

43:56

the baby and presses herself flat against

43:58

the wall. She holds her baby.

43:59

They started looking through

44:02

the window and they were talking amongst themselves. They

44:04

were like, hey, do you see anything? They were

44:06

like, yeah, I see the baby formula right

44:09

there. And

44:11

I was looking at her like, don't

44:13

talk, don't please, don't talk, please don't say anything.

44:24

Eventually the officers leave, but

44:26

Jade knows they can't stay. So

44:29

they wait until nightfall, get in their car and

44:32

head out of town.

44:33

They start driving toward New Jersey where Ryan's

44:35

dad lives. They

44:37

make it as far as Sioux City, Iowa, where

44:39

they pull into the parking lot of that big box

44:41

store. Get your hands up!

44:43

Get your hands up! You

44:46

may remember what happens next. Let me

44:48

see your hands in the vehicle! Out

44:50

the window! Do not move unless

44:53

you're told to do so. Do you understand me?

44:55

Jade and Ryan had crossed

44:57

six states, driven

44:59

over a thousand miles. They've

45:02

been gone for a little over a month. And

45:05

now they're arrested for child endangerment.

45:08

And their baby is taken again.

45:11

You don't think that's what was going on. You ain't supposed

45:13

to have this child. And this

45:15

all started because Jade took a

45:17

prescribed medication during pregnancy.

45:24

Jade spends almost two months in jail. She

45:28

pleads guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment

45:30

to get out. She

45:33

fears she'll never see her daughter again, that

45:35

the tribe will terminate her parental rights. But

45:39

when she calls the caseworker, she's

45:41

relieved to learn they're giving her a second chance. In December 2021, Jade

45:43

and

45:44

Ryan return to

45:46

Arizona. Their daughter

45:49

is now 10 months old. They

45:52

meet in the parking lot of a Phoenix library.

45:55

On our first visit, Jade and Ryan are in a family. They're

45:59

in a family. it when we got there. She started

46:01

like just bawling her eyes out as

46:04

soon as she saw us, as soon

46:06

as she saw me. And so I

46:08

just picked her up out of her car seat and I hugged

46:10

her and I told her how much I

46:12

missed her and how good it was to

46:14

see her and I

46:16

just held her for a really long time.

46:22

To get their baby back, Jade and Ryan

46:24

have to take parenting classes, attend

46:27

counseling, do random drug testing

46:29

and supervised visitations. They

46:31

have to resolve all criminal matters and fines.

46:35

This time, Jade decides she's

46:37

not going to fight it. She's just

46:39

going to do whatever they ask and

46:42

enjoy the limited visits she has with

46:44

her daughter. She is just the cutest

46:47

baby I've ever seen in my entire life. She

46:49

doesn't really open up till the end of the visit,

46:52

but she loves music. She

46:55

likes to dance. I've heard her sing

46:57

a little bit.

47:00

As time passes, Jade

47:02

has some victories but many more setbacks.

47:06

Completing the judge's case plan is

47:08

not going to be easy. Two

47:10

of her shoplifting charges are resolved, but

47:13

she picks up a probation violation in Iowa

47:15

for leaving the state. She

47:17

sees a counselor who determines she doesn't need counseling,

47:20

but the caseworker tells her she has to do

47:22

it anyway. Her car

47:24

breaks down, the plumbing and the rented

47:27

trailer breaks. Everything is taking

47:30

so long. And

47:32

meanwhile,

47:33

Jade only gets to see her daughter

47:36

four hours a month. She's

47:38

missing so much. Milestones,

47:42

first words, first

47:45

haircut, just

47:47

yeah, I've just missed so much

47:49

of her, her first.

47:53

It's not just like depressing or sad. It's like this deep

47:57

brokenness that I have to live

47:59

with every day.

47:59

every single day. All

48:03

my life, I really looked forward to being a

48:05

mother, and I

48:08

feel like I'm having that

48:12

basic human experience taken from

48:15

me. Jade

48:18

becomes depressed and starts sleeping

48:20

a lot. In February of this

48:22

year, her daughter turns two.

48:26

A month later, Jade goes to court to

48:28

resolve one of her outstanding probation

48:30

violations.

48:32

She thinks it's just a formality,

48:34

but the judge sentences her to six

48:36

months in jail.

48:43

A couple weeks later, I connect with Jade

48:45

online through the jail's video visitation

48:48

system. There you are.

48:50

Hi. Hi,

48:52

how are you? I'm good.

48:55

How are you doing? Jade

48:59

tells me she's received some bad news.

49:03

Her dad says it looks like the tribe

49:05

isn't going to give back her baby, at

49:08

least anytime soon.

49:11

Jade started out thinking she was doing

49:14

the right thing by taking Suboxone

49:16

during her pregnancy. This

49:18

is what a good mother would do, she thought. After

49:22

the state took her baby, she fought back

49:24

as hard as she could and made decisions

49:27

she knew would look bad, all so

49:29

she could be a mother, a better

49:31

parent than the ones she knew. But

49:34

over time, the case has worn her

49:36

down.

49:38

Now instead of blaming the child welfare

49:40

agency for removing her daughter, or

49:42

the state law, or the hospital, she's

49:45

blaming herself.

49:47

Maybe the state was right after all, Jade

49:50

is now thinking.

49:52

Maybe she's not fit to be a mom.

49:54

I just messed up so much that

49:56

it's been this hard for me to get her back. I'm

50:00

not doing as good of a job as I could

50:03

have been doing. Jade

50:05

wanted something different for her daughter. She

50:08

wanted to be a good mother. And

50:11

for now, she's losing

50:13

that chance.

50:22

Jade is scheduled to be released from jail this

50:24

month. You can read more about

50:26

Jade and the other mothers losing custody

50:28

of their newborns in a story reveals

50:31

Shoshana Walter has written for this week's

50:33

New York Times magazine.

50:39

Najee Baminey and Ixres Kanderajah produced

50:41

this week's show. Taki Telenides and Nina

50:43

Martin were editors. Reveals Melissa

50:45

Lewis provided data reporting and analysis.

50:48

Thanks to researcher Deco Moldani and

50:50

legal fellows Derek Gray and Sean Musgrave,

50:53

who spent months filing public records

50:55

requests and pushing back when state agencies

50:58

said no.

50:59

Also, thanks to Ala Mustafa, Anayansi

51:02

D.S. Cortez, Farah Altohami,

51:05

Austin Fast and Rahat Nadeff

51:08

of the New York Times. Nikki

51:10

Frick is our fact checker. Victoria Baranetsky

51:12

is our general counsel. Our production managers

51:14

are Stephen Raskon and Zolema Cobb. Score

51:17

and sound designed by the dynamic duo Jay

51:19

Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando Mamay

51:22

and Yo Arruda. They had help this week from

51:24

Claire C. Knope Mullen.

51:26

Our CEO is Robert Rosenthal. Our COO is Maria

51:28

Feldman. Our interim

51:31

executive producers are Brett Myers and Taki

51:33

Telenides. Our theme music is by Kamarato,

51:35

Lightning. Support for Reveals

51:38

provided by the Ford Foundation, the Riva and David Logan

51:40

Foundation, the

51:42

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the

51:44

Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the

51:46

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Park

51:49

Foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Reveal

51:51

is a co-production of the Center for Investigative Reporting

51:54

and PRX. I'm Al Letzen.

51:56

And remember, there is always more

51:58

to the story. from

52:01

PRX