(The Center Square) – After 35 years, the Pediatric Interim Care Center in Kent – the only specialized medical facility in western Washington caring for drug-exposed babies – stopped accepting new intakes on Monday.
That’s because the Department of Children, Youth & Families canceled its contract with the Pediatric Interim Care Center, or PICC, citing state budget cuts.
PICC historically received about $700,000 annually from the state. However, the funding was significantly reduced to $100,000 annually for the next two years. Despite lawmakers voting to keep it funded, Gov. Bob Ferguson ultimately cut the funding completely through a partial budget veto.
“We must use our resources as a state as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, the current funding going to the Kent PICC was not cost-effective,” DCYF Child Welfare Communications Consultant Kortney Scroger emailed The Center Square.
Since 1990, PICC has taken care of newborns born to mothers with substance use disorders. Up until this year, about half of PICC’s funding came from the state. This year, majority-party Democrats scrapped all funding, but Republicans managed to claw back $100,000 in the final budget.
“It was only $100,000 in the budget, and we knew long term that was going to be a real challenge, but it still gave us room to operate. But then even that got a veto,” PICC Development Director Elaine Purchase told The Center Square on Monday.
She explained that a letter that came from DCYF a couple of weeks ago caught everyone off guard.
“We were blindsided when we got the email from DCYF that was basically saying your contract’s up June 30, we’re done with you, and we won’t send you any more babies,” Purchase continued.
She noted that if DCYF was unhappy with the care PICC provided, the facility could have worked with the agency.
“If we weren’t living up to our contract, it was up to them to tell us that, and they never did,” Purchase said, noting that no one from DCYF has visited the center for the last couple of years.
She said PICC is aware that the state has shifted priorities due to the Keeping Families Together Act, which took effect July 1, 2023.
Washington’s Keeping Families Together Act, also known as House Bill 1227, aims to reduce the number of children entering foster care by raising the legal standard for removing a child from their home.
Critics contend the law prioritizes family preservation over child safety, citing an increase in child deaths, many from drug exposure, as reported by The Center Square.
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, and other GOP leaders drafted a letter to Ferguson last week, urging him to intervene to help PICC.
“What I believe happened is that the governor was told by DCYF that they were not going to renew the contract anyway, so go ahead and veto this money,” Couture said, taking issue with how DCYF notified PICC of the canceled contract.
“By sending a really cold and callous letter after 35 years of service, saying essentially your contract has been terminated, have a nice day,” the lawmaker said.
Purchase said the focus should be on what is best for the babies, and politics should be set aside.
“The other thing is that they keep talking about wanting kinship placement for the babies who aren’t in safe homes, and that’s what we specialize in,” she said. “We are very good at that.”
A statement from DCYF emailed to The Center Square indicated PICC has received more funding than the need would justify.
“Historically, the center has received state dollars for 13 beds, regardless of the actual number of babies it serves each month,” Scroger said in her email to The Center Square.
Purchase told The Center Square the facility’s numbers are down because DCYF has not been referring drug-exposed babies to the facility.
“So, in a way, they blame us for something that we don’t control. We can’t make the babies come here,” she said.
“New evidence-based models demonstrate better outcomes for babies when they ‘room in’ at hospitals under the care of a physician or are in transitional care homes that allow the mother and baby to stay together,” Scroger stated. “While hospitals, of course, may choose to continue to refer children to the Kent PICC, they have been doing so much less frequently as demonstrated by the current empty beds at the Kent PICC.”
Purchase said she’s not sure what’s being communicated between DCYF and hospitals, because the calls for help are still coming, but the babies don’t follow.
“I think last month we had 16 calls from hospitals for babies, and only two of them came,” she said. “We don’t know what happened to the other 14 babies, but the hospitals call and ask us if we have beds, and then we never heard back.”
Purchase said employees and board members are devastated that, after decades helping thousands of babies through painful drug withdrawals, the facility is no longer accepting newborns; however, she noted the center is not closing its doors.
“Down there in that nursery there are people who’ve cared for those babies for decades, and this is their life and they’re so good at it. Nobody can do what these women do, and basically, they’re getting laid off today, so it’s horrible for all of us because we’re like a family.”
PICC is keeping the door open with DCYF as well.
“We’re working on it and trying to see if there are ways that we can work with DCYF and receive babies even without a contract and without money,” Purchase said. “Maybe we do it for free.”
Couture is urging people to contact Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office and encourage him to reinstate support for the center.
Ferguson did not respond to a request for comment.
“It is just sad that after 35 years, they just get the rug pulled out from under them, and at a time when the state is dealing with more infants addicted to hard drugs, not less. And if you’ve ever heard the cries and the contortions from one of these infants … it’s heartbreaking,” Couture observed.
In an email to supporters, PICC Executive Director Barbara Drennen thanked the center’s many donors: “Your support has made it possible for us to care for more than 3,500 drug-exposed newborns and build a beautiful home for the babies for generations to come. We are profoundly grateful for the trust and love you have shown us – and them. Please stand with us as we fight for a future where no baby is left without care.”
