My name is Windy Calvert. I am a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Fort Bend County Texas. I have started this petition because Texas needs to step-up protection of unborn children from drug addicted mothers and help these mothers get sober while the unborn child is still able to be saved from unnecessary harm. Why wait for the child to be born for the courts to step-in? When a child is born to a drug addicted mother in Texas and the State (Child Protective Services) gets involved, the State pays for a rehab facility, attorneys for the mother and child and a CPS agent as well as other services. It can save the State money if we started this process earlier rather than later. We need Texas to impose a mandatory drug screening on any pregnant mother-- regardless if it is done through private insurance or State-sponsored medical providers. Having a drug screen should be no less important than HIV testing, cancer screenings, or diabetes testing. This is routine blood work that pregnant mothers get to ensure both the well-being and health of the unborn child as well as the expectant mother. My first case as a CASA was a drug addicted child. His name is Andrew. Andrew's biological mother admitted to me that she knew she was pregnant while doing drugs and researched on the internet drugs she could take that would have the least effect on Andrew. It angered me that this mother did this knowing that she was pregnant and that it would impact her unborn child. She knew that there would be no legal consequence as a result of this choice. I promised myself that day that I would do my best to change this. Andrew is a beautiful child who is very happy with the family that adopted him. However, because of the drug addiction, Andrew's biological mother's drug addiction, and the consequences to Andrew’s health, he has a 90% chance of having liver cancer and dying before he is 25. How is this fair to Andrew? Andrew did not make this choice. If there was mandatory drug screening, Andrew's biological mother would have been tested as she went to free clinics for prenatal care. The sobriety process could have started when she was pregnant. Studies have shown that consumption of illegal drugs during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, low birth weight, premature labor, placental abruption, fetal death and maternal death. Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota require health care providers to test for and report prenatal drug exposure. Those are the only states that have this type of law. Texas should join them in this fight to protect unborn children. Please help me in signing this petition so that we can ask Texas legislators to take this seriously. Drug addicted mothers are a serious issue. Their selfish acts result in children being born with health issues which will start their lives with an uphill battle to a healthy and successful life, predetermined for them by their irresponsible mothers. Please support me in this... your signature is YOU making a difference in the life of a child and trying to help an addict get sober. Thank you, Windy Calvert- CASA

A drug addicted mother is a serious issue