A federal agency has awarded Indiana $8.4 million to help fight the opioid epidemic by boosting access to substance abuse treatment and mental health services.

In 2017, some 63,000 children were in the care of grandparents; thats 6% of kids statewide. And of those grandparents, 38% were age 60 or older.

Indiana's Commission to Combat Drug Abuse met Friday in Indianapolis discussing how the state has addressed the opioid and addiction crisis. The group highlighted progress, as well as areas of need.

The grants will be administrated through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The Next Level Recovery Indiana website has information about statistics, prevention and recovery for anyone dealing with the opioid epidemic.

NPR and Side Effects Public Media have identified at least eight courts out of the several dozen in Indiana that say they only allow a treatment from drugmaker Alkermes.

Doctors who can prescribe a medication for opioid addiction, and accept Medicaid, are already scarce. But even fewer will treat pregnant women. At this most vulnerable time, when both mother's and baby's lives are at stake, some doctors even drop their patients.

Even though most insurers cover the medicine women need to avoid withdrawal while pregnant, they require prior authorizations which can be riddled with bureaucratic hold-ups and clerical errors.

More than a quarter of people surveyed by researchers at IUPUI said they didn't call 911 at the scene of an overdose for fear of arrest.

The fraud uncovered in Indiana include transportation billing for trips that never happened, money laundering and illegal opioid prescribing.