Urging Congress to review CAPTA, to get intentional about Plans of Safe Care for Infants
In December 2015, Reuters working in partnership with NBC News released the findings of an investigative series - Helpless and Hooked: the most vulnerable victims of America's opioid epidemic.
At the heart of the Reuters reporting was a 6-week-old infant who died in Carbon County, Pennsylvania in 2014. Brayden Cummings is one of too many Pennsylvania infants and young children who have died or nearly-died as a consequence of the scourge of the opioid epidemic engulfing Pennsylvania.
The investigative series elevated awareness about how states have implemented (and struggled to implement) a critical provision of the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) related to the reporting of substance-exposed infants by health care providers to the child protection system and then for inter-disciplinary teams to work together to develop dual-generation Plans of Safe Care. The attached sign on letter (sent to every member of the PA Congressional delegation) from stakeholders invested in improved maternal health and well-being and the protecting of young children urges immediate Congressional attention on the federal CAPTA provisions.
