Creating a Family Adoption & Foster Care Education

This course has been retired. We regularly update courses to ensure we are offering up-to-date expert advice, plus to improve our sound and production quality. Although this is an extremely popular course, it was produced in 2016.

Please see Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Opiates, Opioids, Methadone, Suboxone, and Other Common Drugs with Dr. Julian Davies.

If your agency recommended you take this course, please reach out to let them know of this change and ensure that our replacement, Impact of Prenatal Exposure, is acceptable as a replacement. 

For any questions, or to preview this course if you are an agency, please contact Cressa@creatingafamily.org.

Should you accept an adoption match where the baby has been exposed to opiates, heroin, methadone, or other drugs? How does methadone treatment impact the baby? What is the long-term prognosis for a baby with prenatal exposure to drugs? What can be done to help with withdrawal? In this course, we interview Dr. Julia Bledsoe, a pediatrician with the University of Washington Center for Adoption Medicine and the UW FAS Clinic. Dr. Bledsoe specializes in adoption medicine and drug and alcohol exposure.

This course covers the following topics:

• What are the most common drugs that are being used by pregnant women?
• What are the common treatment medications/drugs given to addicts who are trying to get off drugs?
• What are the short and long-term impacts on infants exposed to opiates?
• What are the short and long-term impacts on infants exposed to Methadone and Suboxone in pregnancy?
• What are the short and long-term impacts on infants exposed to methamphetamine (meth) in pregnancy?
• What are the short and long-term impacts on infants exposed to cocaine in pregnancy?
• What are the short and long-term impacts on infants exposed to marijuana in pregnancy?
• Does the timing of prenatal exposure affect the prognosis for the child? Is there a safer time for a fetus to be exposed to drugs in utero?
• How serious is drug dependency and withdrawal for the infant?
• What drugs used in pregnancy cause the worst withdrawal symptoms in the newborn?
• How is withdrawal treated in the infant? How is Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) treated in babies born dependent?
• How common is it for women, who use drugs during their pregnancy, to also drink excessively during their pregnancy?
• For an infant born dependent, how long does withdrawal really last?
• How do you foster attachment while the baby is suffering through withdrawal?
• Experts tell us that "early intervention is key" and that a baby's brain can be rewired during the first couple of years with the right therapy. What exactly does that therapy entail? Where can you find it? What strategies should you be using at home with your child with a diagnosis of prenatal drug exposure?
• Are children who have prenatal exposure at a greater risk for drug abuse as teens and adults if they were adopted and not raised in an environment that exposed them to drug use?
• For women who use drugs, what blood born diseases that they are exposed to are they more likely to have?
• What is the risk to a baby whose mother has Hepatitis B or C?
• What are the treatments for Hepatitis B and C?

*Your course will remain active for 180 days from purchase date.