Prenatal substance exposure and 5-year child protection outcomes among infants not reported at birth

Abstract

Discretionary child protection system (CPS) reporting policies allow some substance-exposed infants to be discharged from the hospital without a maltreatment report, but it is unknown whether risk for later system involvement varies according to exposure status. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of CPS involvement in the first 5 years of life as predicted by prenatal substance exposure among California births in 2018. At 5 years, less than 14% of exposed children experienced CPS reports of maltreatment harm or substantiated CPS reports. Exposed children were more likely to be reported for maltreatment harm at 5 years (adjusted Risk Difference (aRD)=0.03, 95%CI: 0.02, 0.04), including a subgroup with only cannabis exposure (aRD = 0.03, 95%CI: 0.02, 0.04) compared with unexposed infants. Prenatally exposed children were more likely to experience a substantiated report within 5 years compared with those without exposure (aRD = 0.03, 95%CI: 0.02, 0.03). Findings suggest that families affected by prenatal substance exposure who do not have apparent safety concerns at birth may benefit from support to prevent future instances of system intervention or child maltreatment.