Crack Kids: Innocent Victims

Damaged by the drugs their mothers took, crack kids will face social and educational hurdles and must count on society's compassion

AT A HOSPITAL IN BOSTON lies a baby girl who was born before her time -- three months early, weighing less than 3 lbs. Her tiny body is entangled in a maze of wires and tubes that monitor her vital signs and bring her food and medicine. Every so often she shakes uncontrollably for a few moments -- a legacy of the nerve-system damage that occurred when she suffered a shortfall of blood and oxygen just before birth. Between these seizures, she is unusually quiet and lethargic, lying on her side with one arm draped across her chest and the other...

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