news Jack investigates the rising number of cases of children overdosing on fentanyl in their homes it's just heartbreaking this is even a story and even with those numbers climbing Action News jaacks Megan morard found a Jacksonville woman tried desperately to get her grandchildren out of Farm's way but no agency would help my 2-year-old we had him at the park and he ingested something this body camera video shows Force responders trying to save a toddler hey can you breathe for me hey he needs
n can it's it's fentanyl the but investigators say the toddler found the fentanyl inside their home paramedics revived him this scary situation which happened in Seattle is similar to what Susan Reed of Jacksonville experienced when her 9-month-old grandchild overdosed on fentanyl we knew the day was coming and it was really bad when we got the phone call that our youngest grandbaby literally almost died from fent all and our fear had come true Reed's son and his girlfriend have three children
the 9-month-old a 1-year-old and a six-year-old you knew or you thought that there were drugs in the house I knew I had been in there I had a key to the house Reed says she first called the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office who referred her to the Department of Children and Families or DCF nobody would do anything and I called the um hotline numbers and and got no response she felt like she wasn't being heard so Reed hired a private investigator Action News Shacks interviewed Kathleen conran last ye
ar about the case we didn't show her face because she works undercover she was deathly afraid that these kids were going to get killed she told us she believed DCF had enough evidence to take the kids out of the home but nothing happened I called DCF nobody ever even called me back a month later Reed's 9-month-old grandchild overdose on fentanyl according to the police reports the baby was observed to not be breathing and her lips began turning blue once at the hospital the baby was given multip
le doses of Naran and a urine test revealed the presence of fentol and in a separate arrest report it shows DCF stepped in after the child's overdose and drug tested both parents both tested positive for multiple drugs including fentanyl JSO arrested both parents the father served one year for child neglect and the mother is serving a 10-year sentence on multiple drug related charges it's very frustrating because you see what's happening and there's things that can be done and no one is doing an
ything we looked into the rise of child deaths the Journal of the American Medical Association for Pediatrics found in 1999 only about 5% of opioid deaths in children were due to fentanyl but in 2021 one the drug was responsible for 94% of those deaths and the study found the majority of fentanyl poisoning in children happened in the child's own home everybody is being touched by this epidemic Mike McCormick with poison control gave us a walkth through of their call center while we all like to t
hink it's not going to impact us I spend too much time talking to families across all demographics in um different parts of towns and cities and counties and you know opioids don't discriminate it's been a long road it it has Reed officially adopted her three grandchildren last month but her work isn't done she wants to warn other families we got here because we have different agencies that ignored the cries the help Reed says her son is now out of prison and working on his sobriety the children
's mother is still serving her prison sentence I spoke with DCF and they said they investigate every allegation and when drugs are not evident there is a series of actions they can take to determine if the kids are safe in the home but they would not comment on this case directly the full statement is on our website action news jacks.com for local coverage you can count on in the studio mean morard Action News Jacks well if you know or suspect a child is in danger you can report it by phone at 8
96 abuse or online online at my Florida families.com
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