In states across the country, legislators have passed laws that require medical providers to report pregnant people's use of drugs and alcohol to child welfare agencies, but research shows that these policies do little to improve infant health outcomes and may create more harm.
This issue brief summarizes research that shows how rates of investigations of infants by child welfare agencies due to reports by medical providers have doubled in the last decade. The research also underscores how racial inequities in these investigations persist with more than two times as many Black than White infants investigated.
Research shows reporting requirements do not keep babies safe, and in some cases, expose babies to the harms of family separation. Health professionals should focus on reducing overreporting by limiting the use of urine drug tests to the very few clinical indications.