A new group of health care and social services experts gathered in Westport this week to discuss a vexing problem: the growing rate of Missouri babies born drug dependent.

The Kansas City Perinatal Recovery Collaborative was formed because of data that shows the number of babies at risk of painful withdrawal symptoms in the first year of life has grown every year since 2011, going from 461 that year to 2,112 in 2016.

The Kansas City Perinatal Recovery Collaborative, based at UMKC, is led by Mid-America ATTC, a collaboration between Truman Medical Centers Behavioral Health (TMC-BH) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing and Health Studies. Mid-America ATTC is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Read More.