Parents injected their 3 young children with heroin telling them it was “feel good medicine.”

The needle marks were what first alerted authorities to the fact that something was going on. Needle marks on the body of a four-year-old girl who had no other medical issues.

The rat droppings in the house, the used syringes littering the floor and an anonymous tip off from a “friend” of the family was what then got police involved.

What they never expected though was this:

The parents, Ashlee Hutt, 24, and Mac Leroy McIver, 25, had been allegedly injecting their own children, aged just six, four and two,  with heroin, telling them it was “sleepy juice” and “feel good medicine.”

The needle marks were caused by the little girl’s own mum and dad and both are now facing a litany of charges.

Hutt and McIver, from Spanaway, Washington in the US are the newest faces of the heroin epidemic.

Their actions shocking the nation still reeling from the story of the little Ohio boy buckled up in a car behind his overdosed grandmother who was meant to be caring for him.

Ashlee Hutt yesterday fronted court. Along with Mac Leroy McIver, they face charges including three felony counts each of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, criminal mistreatment and assault of a child.

Court documents say the couple admitted to state social workers that they used heroin, but blamed others when questioned about their children being injected with the drug.

Last November child protection workers found all three children living in what they described as a “hazardous household”.

The home, also inhabited by other adults who were using heroin at the time, was littered needles and aluminum foil rolls with heroin still in them.

Rat droppings covered the floor.

The children were found covered in marks, cuts and bruises on the children's arms. They were removed from their parent's care.

Two-months later the six-year-old boy told authorities his parents had given him and his two little sisters a white powder mixed with water that he described as "feel good medicine."

He said that in order to get their medicine his mum or dad would take needle, fill it with "feel good medicine" and inject all them.

"He and his sisters usually go to sleep after getting the medicine," court documents show he said.

According to KIRO the six-year-old boy said he was given the drug once after being choked by his father.

It was two months after the children had been placed in protective custody but they still showed signs of heroin in their bodies when their hair follicles were tested. The four-year-old girl had a trace amount of heroin in her system, while the youngest, aged two, youngest tested positive for heroin.

The tumultuous relationship between the couple is documented on their Facebook pages, as is their battles with drugs. At times McIver writes of his struggled to beat his addictions.

At one stage writing: “Seeing happy families and knowing mine is ruined....makes me wanna just go to sleep for eternity...please see thru my efforts all day that i love you with my all heart...AND I'LL NEVER STOP.”

The couple who remain in custody have been cited as a  "serious and imminent threat" to their children with the judge issuing a restraining order that prohibits both parents from contacting their children or being within 1,000 feet of their residences, schools, or future places of employment.

In a telling post two years ago, Hutt celebrated the jailing of a woman she used to live with whose baby died after drinking bong water and suffering a methamphetamine overdose.

“Finally justice for you,” she said on Facebook under a photo of the deceased baby.

"I remember taking you out for walks to get you out of your nasty crib, seeing you not wheeze because you finally had fresh air! Feed you your first jars of baby food. It's heart breaking that you had to lose your life due to the state not listening. This never would've happened if you were with your father or family that actually cared for you. RIP NATHAN.”

A friend responded: “So sad.”

“Why would any mother do that to their baby. So so sad sorry Ashlee.”

According to police, Ashlee’s own three children are now doing well after being placed in foster homes.