Report: 1 in 12 Maine children born exposed to drugs

PORTLAND (WGME) – It's a shocking statistic, 1 in 12 Maine babies are born exposed to drugs.

Those numbers come from the “Kids Count” data report released Thursday.

The data shows that in 2017, almost 1,000 babies were born drug affected or exposed.

While more drug tests are coming back positive, Maine Health says there is good news in the numbers.

Hospitals are reporting that more mothers are in drug treatment programs.

Officials say some of the remaining challenges are pregnant women who are in treatment have other needs that shouldn't be treated in isolation.

“So we need to be treating the entire family for instance. So there may be issues like other family members, partners may need treatment as well. Also, they may be challenged around housing transportation hunger, food insecurity,” Maine Health Chief Health Improvement Officer Dora Mills said.

Mills says treating the whole family gives babies the best chance to get off to a healthy start.