SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — A mother is under investigation for criminal mistreatment after her 3-month-old baby tested positive for methamphetamine during a supervised visit in Spokane Valley, court documents say.
On Tuesday, a deputy with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spoke with a social worker who works at Sacred Heart. She told him a 3-month-old baby admitted into the Emergency Room tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamines, according to court documents.
Court documents say the baby’s grandparents have cared for him since methamphetamine was discovered in his system at birth on July 2. The baby was released from the hospital on July 10, 2019, and only had supervised visits coordinated through Child Protective Services with his birth mother.
The social worker said the baby was initially taken to Valley Hospital by his grandparents on Monday, Oct. 7 after a supervised visit with his mother. He was then transferred to Sacred Heart via ambulance due to his condition.
The social worker said the baby was acting strangely when returned to the care of his grandparents, according to court documents. The baby’s grandmother denied using methamphetamine and suspected that he ingested it while with his mother.
An employee with Caring Hearts who supervised the visit between the baby and his mother told the deputy that she was constantly watching the baby and never saw his mother smoke or ingest drugs, according to court documents.
She told the deputy that she saw the baby’s mother make a bottle using water and baby formula from a container on the coffee table, court documents say. The employee said the baby’s mother did not feed him anything else while she was supervising the visit.
A doctor at Sacred Heart told detectives that the baby was at risk of organ failure or potential death due to the level of methamphetamine intoxication, court documents say.
One of the baby’s family members told detectives that he was sweating profusely, hot to the touch and making erratic movements with his hands and arms when he returned home, according to court documents. She immediately suspected he was under the influence of methamphetamine.
She and the baby’s grandparents are aware that the baby’s mother has used methamphetamine in the past, court documents say.
Authorities spoke with the baby’s mother at her home, where she admitted she was a methamphetamine user and had relapsed over the weekend, according to court documents. She said she had used the drug from Oct. 4 to Oct. 6.
According to court documents, the baby’s mother said she still had some methamphetamine and a pipe in her room. She said she was unaware of how the baby would have come in contact with the drug during their visit.
Authorities have served a search warrant for possible methamphetamine and any associated paraphernalia, clothing worn by the mother during the visit, and blankets, baby bottles and water bottles used during the visit due to possible cross-contamination from the mother to the baby.