For more than three years, Maddie’s Place, Spokane’s neo-natal nursery for drug addicted infants, has cared for babies who are born to mothers with drug addictions. Many children inherit the addictions. They show physical symptoms, including fussiness or irritability. Parts of their bodies may not be fully formed. They may have intellectual disabilities.
Maddie’s Place cares not only for the babies as they go through detox, but also for the parents who work to overcome their addictions. The nursery has survived on grants from Washington state, Spokane city and county and private donations.
Its chief executive, Shaun Cross, says that’s not a sustainable funding model. He’s asking the legislature to change the law to allow the state to pay for the nursery’s services, using funding from its Medicaid program. Cross recently made his case to a Washington state Senate committee…