Barbara Drennen has been a Kent resident for more than 50 years.  She and her husband Kenneth raised their five children here and opened their home to hundreds of foster children.

Barbara’s passion is providing a safe and healthy start in life for newborns suffering the effects of prenatal drug exposure.  As Executive Director and cofounder of Pediatric Interim Care Center (PICC) in Kent, she heads the nation’s only newborn nursery dedicated to specialized 24-hour care of the littlest victims of drug abuse. 

Barbara came to this mission in the late 1980s as a provider of in-home care for medically fragile infants in the state foster care system.  In response to the large number of infants prenatally exposed to cocaine, she designed a program of therapeutic care to protect these often fragile and premature babies through their first weeks of life.   At the urging of local hospitals, she designed a nonprofit center to provide this care on a larger scale.  Founded in 1990, PICC has brought more than 2,800 newborns safely through the hazards of withdrawal.  These children, many of them now teenagers, are some of Barbara’s greatest accomplishments.   

In addition to leading PICC, Barbara has been a voice of advocacy on behalf of drug-exposed infants.  She spearheaded legislation in Washington State requiring reporting of newborns with positive toxicology screens for illicit drugs.  She is a resource for families, the media, the medical community, legislators, social service agencies, law enforcement, and caregivers.  Through her books, videos, classes and 24-hour information line, she has reached out to the many thousands of drug-exposed infants beyond her own community.