On December 8, with other organizations, ASAM signed onto two letters to Congressional leadership in support of the inclusion of Title IV – Public Health Response to Infants Affected by Substance Use Disorder of S. 1927, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment (CAPTA) Reauthorization Act of 2021, (“the Act”) in an end-of-the-year legislative package. Describing S. 1927 as “must-pass legislation this Congress,” the letter praises the Act’s creation of this new title under CAPTA, which substantially updates and improves current statute to encourage a family-centered treatment approach for infants affected by parental substance use disorder (SUD) and their parents. Importantly, Title IV takes steps to ensure that the use of medications to treat SUD in pregnancy does not trigger the intervention of the child welfare system without separate evidence of child abuse or neglect. 

Read the Senate version here.

Read the House version here.