Resources
Policy Brief:
Equity in Newborn Drug Testing
Date: March 2023
A policy brief created by SAFE MI to raise awareness about inequity and overreporting to CPS that arises from newborn drug testing and our current policy initiative. This brief has been shared in our ongoing legislative advocacy work.
​
​
​
​
​
​
Doing Right at Birth
​
self-paced educational modules for healthcare professionals from Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, A project of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
​​
"The goal of Doing Right at Birth is to ensure that the child welfare reporting of birthing people is evidence-informed, ethical, anti-racist, and meeting (but not exceeding) state legal requirements."
​​​​​​​​​
​
Stop Reporting
our People
​​​
​​
an initiative of the American Bar Association that aims to mitigate bias and racism in overreporting by healthcare professionals by a layered, multisystem intervention.
​
"The ABA proposes a three-fold intervention in chosen pilot sites: development of a medical standard of care supplement addressing bias and racism, medical school strategies addressing bias and racism, and tools to lessen the imbalance of power between medical, legal/judicial, and child welfare professionals when questioning biased reporting.
Policy and Practice Considerations for
Drug Testing in Child Welfare
from the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
"This two-part series helps to develop clear and consistent drug testing policy and practice protocols—in collaboration with substance use disorder treatment providers and the courts—to ensure a coordinated and collaborative approach that promotes recovery."
"Health care providers are often unsure of state and federal requirements for drug testing pregnant and birthing people and their newborns, and hospital policies around drug tests are typically more stringent than the law requires. As a result, pregnant people and new parents face state violence and criminalization following unnecessary and harmful reports to the family policing system (also called the child welfare system). If/When/How released a first of its kind resource for healthcare professionals that makes clear when providers are not required to report substance use of pregnant and birthing people and their newborns."​​​​
"Stigmatizing language...racist and sexist narratives about pregnant people who use substances and their children contribute to the disproportionate criminalization and separation of Black and Indigenous families by child welfare services. Those injustices reverberate from state legislatures to doctors’ offices to the nightly news. We have a responsibility to do better, using an approach that respects people’s journeys and elevates effective solutions.This resource offers guidance that promotes health and well-being, is grounded in evidence, and tells stories of pregnant people who use drugs and alcohol with compassion, humility and accuracy."
