Maternal and Child Health

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has new resources available when supporting pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders. Each resource supplements the SAMHSA Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants publication.

This presentation included an overview of the Moms Do Care EMPOWER (Engaging Mothers for Positive Outcomes with Early Referrals) program at Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC). We discussed our history and program model.

Tough as a Mother is a public awareness campaign, launched in Colorado in May 2020, working to decrease stigma around maternal SUD, educate providers, and connect pregnant and parenting mothers to treatment and recovery supports in their communities. In this session, we learned how one rural region leveraged this existing public awareness campaign, and get inspired on how to do something similar in your community.

Public Health Institute's (PHI) Cherished Futures for Black Moms and Babies Program is such an important program and example. Racism and toxic stress are root causes for racial disparities in birth outcomes. PHI’s Cherished Futures for Black Moms and Babies is centering the lived experiences of Black women and birthing parents to address this ongoing maternal mortality crisis, bringing together decision-makers from local hospitals, public health departments, health plans and Black women community leaders to identify and put into action systems-change solutions at clinical, institutional and community levels.

Illuminate Colorado, an RCORP Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) grantee, and partners presented on their Tough as a Mother campaign. Tough as a Mother is a statewide campaign launched in May 2020 and has been working to decrease the stigma around maternal substance use disorder. The Illuminate Colorado Team provided an overview of their campaign and how others can access the shared resources, followed by time for Q&A.

The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, in collaboration with the George Washington University, released the first-ever grading of state efforts in addressing maternal mental health. The U.S. received a D, and 42 states received Ds and Fs.

Although pregnancy is motivation for opioid use disorder treatment, there is a risk of relapsing after childbirth. Unpacking Perinatal Experiences with Opioid Use Disorder: Relapse Risk Implications studies the perinatal experiences that can inform clinical social workers and other health/behavioral health providers on when and how to provide support during this time period. 

The CDC report released in September 2022 highlights that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. Among key findings, the report finds that one of the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death includes mental health conditions related to substance use disorder.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report to Congress on access to obstetric care in rural communities. GAO found that the number of rural hospitals providing obstetric services declined from 2004 through 2018. By 2018 more than half of rural counties lacked OB services. OB closures were focused in rural counties that were sparsely populated, had a majority of Black residents, and were considered low income. GAO interviewed stakeholders to identify the most important factors affecting availability of OB care and the efforts federal agencies, states, and others could take to increase availability of services.

Monday, October 3rd was Child Health Day 2022, an observance and recommitment to the health and well-being of children and their families.