Prenatal Substance Use Policies And Infant Maltreatment Reports. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • We studied the effect of state punitive and supportive prenatal substance use policies on reports of infant maltreatment to child protection agencies. Punitive policies criminalize prenatal substance use or define it as child maltreatment, whereas supportive policies provide pregnant women with priority access to substance use disorder treatment programs. Using difference-in-differences methods, we found that total infant maltreatment reports increased by 19.0 percent after punitive policy adoption during the years of our study (2004-18). This growth was driven by a 38.4 percent increase in substantiated reports in which the mother was the alleged perpetrator. There were no changes in unsubstantiated reports after the adoption of punitive policies. We observed no changes in infant maltreatment reports after the adoption of supportive policies. Findings suggest that punitive policies lead to large increases in substantiated infant maltreatment reports, which in turn may lead to child welfare system involvement soon after childbirth in states with these policies. Policy makers should design interventions that emphasize support services and improve well-being for mothers and infants.

publication date

  • May 1, 2022

Research

keywords

  • Child Abuse
  • Substance-Related Disorders

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC10035583

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85129456872

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1377/forefront.20180426.63403

PubMed ID

  • 35500191

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 41

issue

  • 5