Something major is happening in our country. And no, I am not referring to the Olympics or the upcoming presidential debate. Those two events have received an abundance of airtime, but I am thinking of something that flies under the radar– something that could greatly impact the health and growth of the United States.
You may have caught glimpses of a few articles and news stories about “the Miracle Act” that have been circulating the Maddie’s Place social media pages. Miracle stands for Maddie’s Infant Recovery and Children’s Legislative Emergency. This act was introduced to Congress by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State on July 8, 2024. Its purpose is to show the prevalence of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in every state. If Congress passes the Miracle Act, it will require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the prevalence of NAS to provide states with the data they need to protect the well-being of infants and caregivers across the country.
This act has the power to change the lives of the next generation. With this data, state officials would be more likely to open facilities like Maddie’s Place everywhere, and ensure they have the funds to do so.
What a dream that would be! I mean, I’ve received many messages from individuals across the United States wanting to start a “Maddie’s Place” in their own cities. However, this is incredibly hard to do without adequate funding. Every neonatal abstinence syndrome clinic (there are only 5 in the country) has struggled to stay afloat due to a lack of funding.
But the Miracle Act is a potential solution. We are hoping that, should it be passed, every state would receive undeniable data that would highly encourage them to make a change in their community, and provide adequate funds to do so.
So, how did the Miracle Act even come to existence? It actually started at Maddie’s Place with our very own President and CEO, Shaun Cross.
Shaun has always been interested in and involved with public policy. In fact, he ran for Congress against Cathy McMorris Rodgers back in 2004. When he was not elected, Shaun continued in his normal life as a corporate lawyer, until Maddie’s Place came into existence. In 2018, he began working with Rodgers on the CRIB Act, which was introduced and passed in Congress that year and allowed for state Medicaid programs to cover “residential pediatric recovery center services for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome.” However, this act only brought them halfway to reimbursement, and while the states had the opportunity to amend their plans to cover the rest of the cost, only one state followed through.
This drove Shaun to look at matters on the state level, which resulted in our state pilot project passed by the Washington state legislature in 2023. Included in the pilot project was a study by WSU. One of the key aims of the pilot and WSU’s study was to determine the prevalence of NAS in Spokane and Washington State and also the obstacles to obtaining good data. Unfortunately, that aim was dropped from WSU’s study by the authorities in Washington State, which then drove Shaun to go back to a possible Federal solution. Shaun then got to work with McMorris Rodgers’ DC staff to come up with a possible solution. That solution came in the form of a proposed study on the prevalence of NAS. McMorris Rodgers’ staff and the staff at Energy & Commerce (the committee of which McMorris Rodgers is the chair as of January 2023 ), worked with Shaun to put together the Miracle Act, which was then formally introduced into Congress last month.
Now that it has been proposed in Congress, where are we at now?
Shaun has been advised that in the next two weeks, we will receive details from McMorris Rodger’s staff on the path they will take to get the Miracle Act passed. If it gets passed, a national study will take place that will seriously impact the next generation of substance exposed infants.
A lot of the time, the silent opioid epidemic that is ravaging the country is generational. A lot of our infant’s parents had parents who also struggled with substance use, making it likely that Maddie’s Place parents could have been exposed to substances in the womb too.
But that’s why we are trying to intervene now. If we can begin caring for an infant struggling with NAS early in their life, we can set them up for a healthier future and hopefully end the generational cycle of addiction.
The only way we have been able to keep running at our current capacity is because of the charitable donations of so many of you in Spokane County and beyond. We have the attention of Washington State officials. We have now caught national attention. It is more important than ever that we stay open to offer our services to the infants and parents in need.
Because we don’t just want change for Spokane. We want it for the world.
If you are curious about the impact we are making in the lives of our parents and babies, look around on our website. Read some of the stories and updates on what goes on around Maddie’s Place. We would love for you to join us in our mission to offer medical care in a nurturing environment for substance-exposed infants, together with loving, wraparound support for their caregivers.
This blog was posted on August 16, 2024.
Questions? Suggestions? Email me at emma.jones@maddiesplace.org