Poverty babies

I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin in the 80s and 90s. I regularly encountered poor people and people with substance abuse issues in their families. I knew very few people of color.

But I was certainly familiar with the concept of a “crack baby.” Not because the term came up in conversation at home or church or school. It was because my parents subscribed to Time and listened to Chicago’s CBS news radio affiliate, and I was always an information sponge. Here’s what I took away from the national media as a kid: irresponsible black women are doing drugs and then having babies whose lives will inevitably be a living hell.

Well, not quite. The evidence has never lined up, and now a long-term study has concluded. It compared full-term, cocaine-exposed babies to a control group. The study initially aimed to learn about the specific effects of cocaine, in order to inform policies for drug treatment and early-childhood interventions.