Substance Exposed Newborns
In July 2003, the federal government made an attempt at removing
some of the inconsistency in state policy approaches to substance
exposed newborns (SEN) through an amendment to the Child Abuse
Protection and Treatment Act (CAPTA). This amendment is intended
to encourage Child Welfare Services (CWS) linkage with developmental,
mental health, early intervention and health services in order
to access supportive help for at-risk children. Under the
new CAPTA requirement, states must have in place:
1. Policies and procedures to address the needs of infants
born and identified as being affected by illegal substance
abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug
exposure, including a requirement that health care providers
involved in the delivery or care of such infants notify the
child protective services system of the occurrence of such
condition in such infants; and
2. The development of a plan of safe care for the infants
born and identified as being affected by illegal substance
abuse or withdrawal symptoms.
The National AIA Resource Center has completed a related
study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance
Abuse Policy Research Program. The study analyzes policies
and practices regarding the identification, reporting and
child welfare response to substance exposed newborns (SEN)
in eight cities throughout the United States. The cities
were identified based on geographic diversity and state policies
reflecting different approaches to the issue of reporting
SEN. Data were collected through interviews with hospital
nurse and social work managers, child welfare administrators,
and directors of community-based family support programs
in the eight cities. The complete report of the findings
can be downloaded here:
Identifying,
Reporting, and Responding to Substance Exposed Newborns:
An Exploratory Study of Policies & Practices [PDF] [Order]
For more information about the RWJ study or issues related
to CAPTA or substance exposed newborns, contact Amy Price
at: amyprice@berkeley.edu
or 510-643-8383.
In addition, the Resource
Center hosted a national conference and has published an issue brief and a literature review on this topic.:
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Substance
Exposed Newborns: Weaving Together Effective Policy & Practice
October 6-7, 2005
Audio recordings, PowerPoint slides, and other handouts
from many of the presentations from this conference
are available in our 2005
conference archive.
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Substance Exposed Infants:
Noteworthy Policies & Practices (2006) [PDF] [Order]
Literature Review: Effects of Prenatal Substance Exposure on Infant and Early Childhood Outcomes (2006) [PDF] [Order]
The Resource Center has also developed and published
a collection
of resources related to children and families affected
by substance abuse.
Additional Information:
State Policies and Practices
Even prior
to the passage of these CAPTA amendments, states had begun
to address these issues from various angles. Some states
have focused on the identification of and services for pregnant
substance users; others have focused on the identification
of substance exposed newborns; and still others have focused
on service provision for substance exposed newborns. Below
are links to documents providing insight into the approaches
taken and policies developed in:
Arizona
Guidelines for Identifying Substance Exposed Newborns [PDF]
Missouri
Metropolitan Task Force on Drug Exposed Infants fact sheet
[Word]
New Mexico
Guidelines for Obtaining Maternal and Neonatal Urine Drug
Screening [Word]
Rhode Island
Rhode Island's Vulnerable Infant Program [HTML]
Virginia
Perinatal Substance Use: A Guide for Hospitals and Health
Care Providers [PDF]
Washington State
Substance Abuse During Pregnancy: Guidelines for Screening
[PDF]
The following links provide background information
about CAPTA and related issues
- Significant New Changes to the Federal Child Abuse Prevention
and Treatment Act: Practical Implications for Child and
Family Advocates (Howard Davidson, J.D., Director, ABA Center
on Children and the Law, 2003) [Word]
- Prenatal Drug Exposure and Social Policy: The Search
for an Appropriate Response (Steven Ondersma et al., May
2000) [PDF]
- Substance use during pregnancy: Time for policy to catch
up with research (Barry Lester et al., April 2004) [PDF]
- Substance-Exposed Newborns: New Federal Law Raises Some
Old Issues (Steve Christian, September 2004) [HTML]
The National Center of Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
also is doing work in the area of substance exposed newborns.
They can be reached at http://www.ncsacw.samhsa.gov or ncsacw@samhsa.gov.
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