States need more federal guidance on protecting drug-affected infants, GAO report finds

A report released this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the federal government needs to take more steps to help states protect infants born affected by drugs such as opioids (Source: “Exclusive: States need U.S. help to protect drug-affected infants – GAO,” Reuters, Feb. 7, 2018).

State agencies remain confused about a federal law requiring them to report drug-affected infants to child protective services - not to punish mothers but to help families and ensure the child’s safety, the GAO report says. Thirty-eight states said more guidance would be “extremely to very helpful,” according to the report. 

The GAO report was sparked by a 2015 Reuters investigation showing a growing number of newborns diagnosed with drug-withdrawal syndrome from opioids. Thousands of infants were sent home from the hospital without the “plan of safe care” required by a 2003 federal law, the news agency found.

Reuters also found 110 cases of children since 2010 who were exposed to opioids while in the womb and who later died preventable deaths at home. Those deaths were largely accidental but typically at the hand of a parent battling addiction.