In a \u201cPerspective\u201d article published by the New England Journal of Medicine<\/a>, lead author Lloyd Sieger; Rebecca Rebbe<\/a>, assistant professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work; and senior author Dr. Stephen Patrick<\/a>, associate professor of pediatrics and health policy and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy, discuss the challenges that CAPTA has faced in addressing the needs of this vulnerable population and the promise of the proposed reauthorization bill \u2013 an even more critical issue in the face of the ongoing nationwide opioid epidemic.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opioid crisis has taken a substantial toll on pregnant women and infants, spilling over into our nation\u2019s child welfare system,\u201d says Dr. Patrick. \u201cAcross the country, more than 50,000 infants enter foster care each year, most because of parental substance use.\u201d<\/p>\n The last revisions of CAPTA provisions concerning substance-exposed infants happened in 2010 and 2016, but were underfunded and slowed state-level adoption. The Senate\u2019s proposed reauthorization this year substantially increases requested funds to support the many systems-level changes it describes. The reauthorization also explicitly provides implementation assistance to states from the National Center on Substance Use and Child Welfare, an organization that has rich systems-level experience in this area, Lloyd Sieger notes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis reauthorization offers a chance for states to receive more tailored guidance in implementing their own multi-disciplinary strategy,\u201d she says. \u201cBut, in order for its passage to make a difference, healthcare providers need to know about the policy, some of its nuance, and areas where additional support will be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n In their \u201cPerspective,\u201d the researchers note that, while placing children in foster care should be avoided whenever possible, the number of infants and young children removed from their families for parental substance use has increased over the past decade, suggesting that additional changes are needed to CAPTA to help support families.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile placement in a foster home can be necessary to ensure a child\u2019s safety, it can also be traumatic for both the child and the parent struggling with a substance use disorder,\u201d says Rebbe. \u201cCAPTA\u2019s reauthorization presents an opportunity to provide supports and services to families at a critical time in a non-punitive manner.\u201d<\/p>\n They note that ways that affected infants and families are identified and determined to be eligible for CAPTA services are unclear or challenging and, while the reauthorization takes some steps to increase clarity, more is needed to ensure that those most in need of services receive them. States will also have to develop new systems for notification, data collection, and creation of family care plans to comply with the reauthorization. While some states \u2013 like Connecticut \u2013 have already implemented strategies and can serve as models, substantial investment, technical assistance, and monitoring will be needed.<\/p>\n \u201cParents in these circumstances are often already filled with shame and guilt, and ensuring that they receive compassionate, treatment-focused care and trauma-informed support is critical,\u201d says Lloyd Sieger. \u201cThe reauthorization uses much clearer terminology and is crystal clear in its aims to support, not punish, these families. To be effective, though, states will need additional guidance on who this policy applies to and funding to engage multiple systems, including public health, hospitals, substance use treatment, and child protection, in its implementation. The reauthorization also calls upon states to create a new infrastructure for working with these families, and that is going to require a lot of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n But, the researchers say, the promise of the reauthorization marks an important step toward adopting a public health approach to substance-exposed infants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Senate\u2019s CAPTA reauthorization presents an incredible opportunity for Congress and the Biden Administration to shift our nation\u2019s child welfare system\u2019s focus to public health and improving treatment for pregnant women with substance use disorder,\u201d Dr. Patrick says. \u201cWe have the opportunity to keep infants safe and improve outcomes for both pregnant women and infants, now is the time to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Legislation could prove a major help to families, but much depends on implementation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":178502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076,1870,2235,92],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2168],"class_list":["post-175933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-ssw","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-hartford"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 01:57:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175933"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178627,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175933\/revisions\/178627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/178502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175933"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=175933"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=175933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/CAPTASubstance-Use_Infographic_Final10241024_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n