NCJ Number
172912
Journal
Future of Children Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer/Fall 1997 Pages: 157-160
Date Published
1997
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper examines judicial and legislative activity that addresses drug-exposed infants and describes Federal initiatives designed to counter this problem.
Abstract
As of 1997 no State statute has specifically addressed pregnant women who use illicit drugs; however, prosecutors continue to use other statutes designed to protect children to charge women for actions that potentially harm the fetus. Appellate courts that have reviewed guilty verdicts have typically ruled in favor of the mothers, finding that legislatures did not intend these statutes to apply to fetuses. State legislative activity continues to focus on increasing opportunities for treatment and creating task forces to further explore solutions to the problem of perinatal substance abuse. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, heightened attention to this issue prompted significant Federal efforts to increase the availability of drug abuse prevention and treatment programs for women. Between 1989 and 1992, the Federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention initiated 5-year grants for 147 Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Infants projects. These projects provide comprehensive prevention, intervention, and treatment services to substance-abusing pregnant and postpartum women, as well as health and related services to their infants. The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded 20 projects in 1989 and 1990 to create new treatment opportunities for women with children and to conduct treatment research. In 1988 Congress passed the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act to support comprehensive intervention programs to serve drug-exposed and HIV-affected infants and their families. Approximately 30 programs are funded annually. The Federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment initiated two demonstration residential programs in 1993. Although assessments of the aforementioned Federal programs suggest some level of effectiveness, for the most part the evaluations rely on incomplete data; it has been difficult to study program effectiveness in a rigorous way. 20 notes