These reports are being released while Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is beginning to accept applications for Services Grant Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women. This $10 million grant program will provide pregnant and postpartum women and their children with comprehensive substance use treatment and recovery support services across residential and outpatient settings. In addition, for the first time this year, the program will extend services to fathers, partners, and other family members.
“Pregnant and postpartum women affected by substance use benefit greatly from services focused on addiction education, treatment planning, and parenting training,” said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA. “Providing holistic services to women and children affected by substance use – and extending those services to family members – not only helps promote the health of the woman and her children but helps set the whole family unit on the path of recovery.”
Prenatal substance exposure can have significant consequences for child health and development, so including children and family members in services is essential. Prior research has estimated that Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome affects 6-8 per 1,000 hospital births, while Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are estimated to affect as many as 11-50 per 1,000 children in the United States.
