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Substance Exposed Newborns: Weaving
Together Effective Policy & Practice
October 6-7, 2005
 The purpose of this conference was to focus attention on
the needs and circumstances of substance exposed newborns
and their families; to showcase exemplary multi-disciplinary
collaborative efforts, policies, and practices from around
the nation; and to transfer this knowledge to a group of
committed stakeholders working with pregnant substance users
and substance exposed newborns.
The conference was attended by 200 individuals
from thirty-one states and D.C. Participants included
physicians, nurses, social workers, child welfare workers
and administrators, drug treatment providers, public health
agency staff, judges, attorneys, policy makers and advocates. This
included collaborative teams from Arizona,
Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.
Speakers at the conference focused on critical issues and
challenges related to effective policy and practice in the
identification and treatment of substance exposed newborns.
This included two keynote speakers: Dr. Barry Lester,
founder and director of the Brown University Center for the
Study of Children at Risk, and the Infant Development Center
at Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island; and Dr.
Ira Chasnoff,
one of the nation’s leading researchers in the field
of maternal drug use during pregnancy and the effects on
the newborn infant.
In addition,
there were presentations by Hon. James Greenwood,
a leader on health care issues who served in House of Representatives
from 1993 through 2004; Kathleen Tavenner Mitchell,
Vice President and National Spokesperson of the National
Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; Nancy Young,
Director of the National Center on Substance Abuse and
Child Welfare; and Andrew McKechnie, aide
to Rep.
Jim Ramstad, co-chair and founder of two bipartisan
congressional caucuses, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Caucus and the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus.
Reflecting an emphasis on multi-disciplinary, collaborative
efforts in states and communities, speakers also included
five multi-agency teams from Arizona, Albuquerque,
Kansas City, Rhode Island, and Washington
State. Each team presented
their work at a morning panel and then in greater detail
during a workshop in which they discussed the history and
make up of their collaborative efforts, successes and challenges
encountered, future directions, and lessons learned. Following
the workshops, teams provided technical assistance to conference
participants as they synthesized information shared during
the conference and began to apply it to their own state or
community situations.
The conference
booklet includes a complete agenda with
detailed descriptions of each session, and a list
of presenters and their biographies.
Recordings of the plenary presentations, PowerPoint slides, and other handouts
from many of the presentations are available
in our 2005
conference archive.
Co-sponsors: DHHS, ACY, ACYF, Children's
Bureau & Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Collaborative Partners:
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