Recent federal legislation has impacted North Carolina policies related to infants who may have been exposed to substances during pregnancy. The goal of the federal legislation and subsequent state policies are to support the health of the infant, mother and family. The intentions of North Carolina policies are:

1. To include infants, children and families in the Plans of Safe Care.
2. To support the health of the infant and mother, not to penalize the mother and family.
3. To increase access to treatment and support for all women with a substance use disorder and their children. To provide access to appropriate screening and surveillance, assessment and intervention services for infants determined to be affected by substance abuse, withdrawal or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

The Infant Plan of Safe Care is simply a referral of an identified infant to Care Coordination for Children (CC4C) from Child Welfare, that includes services and linkages that the infant and family may benefit from.

Background

In response to the nation’s prescription drug and opioid epidemic, Congress passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA). Section 503 of CARA aims to help states address the effects of substance use disorders on infants and families by amending provisions of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), first enacted in 1974, that are related to infants with prenatal substance exposure. Specifically, CAPTA tasked states with developing policies and procedures that require health care providers to notify the child protective services system if they are involved in the delivery and care of an infant born and identified as being affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal substance exposure, or a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The recent legislation, CARA, expanded “substance exposure” to include both illegal and legal substances.

CARA requires states to define what population of infants and families are identified as “substance affected”, what a Plan of Safe Care is, and who is responsible for developing and monitoring the Plan of Safe Care. The NC Plan of Safe Care Interagency Collaborative (NC POSCIC), a group that was developed to draft the necessary responses of the federal requirements as well as ongoing monitoring, is made up of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)  Agencies, community agencies and subject matter experts.

Overall, NC's implementation of CARA is an effort to better link infants and families to services and resources. Pregnancy can be an opportunity for women and those close to them to change behaviors around alcohol and substance use. It is important for all providers to understand the complexity of a woman's social, environmental, mental and physical conditions in order to best provide support throughout pregnancy, in the postpartum period and throughout parenting. NC DHHS and the NC POSCIC will continue to strengthen partnerships in doing this work and strive towards improving systems of care.

• Links related to federal legislation:

  • In 2003, Public Law 108-36; S.342, Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 was signed into Public Law
    • H.R. 14, Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003.
  • In 2010, the law was amended to include the needs of infants born with and identified as being affected by illegal substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug exposure, or a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Signed into Public Law on December 20, 2010.
    • P.L. 111-320, CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010
  • In 2016 CARA further amended the CAPTA language; The CARA legislation struck the word illegal.
    • The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) Title V, Section 503, “Infant Plan of Safe Care”
  • In January 2017 the Federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) distributed to states.
    • "Guidance on amendments made to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) by Public Law 114-198, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016."