JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville parents were charged with multiple counts of child neglect after their daughter overdosed on fentanyl, landing her in the hospital in critical condition.
According to their arrest reports, the incident happened on Saturday when the child was rushed to the hospital due to “life-threatening exposure.”
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The child’s 32-year-old mother and the child’s father, 35, both tested positive for fentanyl in their systems.
According to research by the U.S. Poison Centers that compiled child fentanyl overdose cases across the nation from 2016 to 2023, fentanyl overdose cases involving children under the age of 6 dramatically increased from 10 overdose cases in 2016 to 539 cases in 2023.
Mike McCormick is the public information officer for the Florida Poison Control office in Jacksonville.
“By the end of last year, we had 867 calls that came into the center, and it was pretty much the same number the year before,” McCormick said. “This is children between the ages of 1 and 6. If you think about that, it’s almost two and a half calls a day that we’re receiving about children gaining access to stuff.”
The report said the mother also had THC and alcohol in her system, which she informed investigators about prior to the drug test.
Police said the child’s father confessed to police that he took fentanyl after he was caught trying to cheat the urine test by diluting his sample with water, the report said.
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The mother denied taking fentanyl, stating that she probably came into contact with the drug by breathing it from the air or through second-hand exposure.
She also told police she knew the child’s father had a history with fentanyl, but “she did not believe he would do it around the children,” the report said.
The report said the mother denied that any children had access to her marijuana in the apartment, but one of the children told the Department of Children and Families that she found her parent’s marijuana and put it in a kitchen cabinet.
The mother also told police she “would not be surprised” if one of the children “got a hold of something” because their apartment was where people would come over to hang out and smoke and drink, the report stated.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney said it’s a common practice for DCF investigators to immediately drug test parents if a small child overdoses on illegal substances.
“For the sake of the protection of the kid, and the other kids in the household, they want to see what the parents are doing because that plays into the criminal aspect of what their ability to care for the child is,” Hackney said.
She said in another interview that she smokes around her children in the same room.
The two were arrested and face four counts of child neglect and one count of child neglect with great bodily harm.
The child is expected to make a full recovery.
DCF placed the other kids in a safety plan that will make sure they are cared for while their parents are in jail.