NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — For years, the City of Nashville has been dedicated to addressing the opioid epidemic.

The problem has elicited several responses by city leaders and the Metro Nashville Public Health Department, which releases overdose information on a quarterly basis.

Now, six months into a new year, the department is showing positive news: fatal overdoses are "steadily declining" in Metro Nashville.

While the news comes as a hopeful change, one group in Nashville is still feeling the effects of the epidemic, and it's one of the city's most vulnerable populations: babies.

While it's meant to be one of the happiest moments in life, for some, the struggles after birth can be daunting, especially for a child.

"I would say a large percentage typically involves a baby who has been born with some form of illicit substance in their system," Davidson County Magistrate Olen Winningham said.

Magistrate Winningham presides over the Safe Babies Court program in Davidson County. He said the hearings we hear aren't just formalities, but a lifeline that tracks everything from sobriety and housing to therapy and early childhood screenings.

"We've had a couple of cases that we have taken on that have been related to domestic violence or homelessness, so those cases are acceptable as well, but we are seeing that drug exposure is the prevalent issue," Davidson County Safe Babies Court Coordinator Jill Overton explained.

Overton said 90% of the cases the court sees involve children who have been exposed to drugs or parents who have substance use issues.

"The conversation about the opioid crisis from years back is what spawned this. More rural areas because the access to treatment and services is very limited," she said.

Currently, over 20 counties across Tennessee operate a Safe Babies Court program. Both Overton and Magistrate Winningham agree that programs like this are necessary, especially in more rural areas where resources are limited. They said Nashville is in a unique position to thrive.

"Our primary focus is on that very young group, and the hope is that by interacting with the entire family, by putting in such a large and hopefully successful amount of resources, we will give them the tools they need to hopefully reunify as a family," Magistrate Winningham said.

Now, Overton said the program is relying on community support more than ever to ensure these resources remain funded, with uncertainty looming about when and if federal grant funds will be cut.

"Obviously, it will affect some of the support we give our families, but our main focus is to find community services first and foremost that can support these families without having to use grant funds," she said. "So it just kind of tweaks what we're doing to make sure they're getting the best that they can in our community."

Metro Council took up the program during a regular council meeting and approved a state grant to help keep the Nashville program running.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/metro-nashville-safe-babies-court-adjusting-amid-federal-funding-uncertainty/