PRINTER'S NO. 680
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.78
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, BRENNAN, SANCHEZ, HILL-EVANS,
SCHLOSSBERG, FREEMAN, CERRATO, HOWARD, KENYATTA, GIRAL,
OTTEN, D. WILLIAMS AND GREEN, FEBRUARY 20, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES, FEBRUARY 20, 2025
A RESOLUTION
Directing the Joint State Government Commission to establish an
advisory committee and conduct a comprehensive study
regarding the effectiveness of the Commonwealth's
multidisciplinary approach to infants born affected by
substance use or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal
drug exposure or a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, including
the success with or barriers to developing plans of safe care
as required by Federal and State law.
WHEREAS, For 2022, the Department of Health reported that
more than 1,200 infants met the department's case definition of
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, with more than 90% of the
diagnoses linked to opioid exposure; and
WHEREAS, Concerns related to parental substance use or being
a substance-affected infant account for approximately 60% of all
general protective service referrals involving infants; and
WHEREAS, There were 424 valid concerns for children under one
year old who had withdrawal symptoms or were born affected by
drug exposure in 2023; and
WHEREAS, State law requires medical professionals to initiate
a program of safe care for an infant affected by prenatal
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20 substance use, and 377 substance-affected infants were placed
into a plan of safe care in 2023; and
WHEREAS, Challenges exist in reliably tracking and reporting
on outcomes for infants, including what types of services or
supports are woven into a plan of safe care and how many infants
are placed in foster or kinship care, referred to and tracked
through early intervention or receiving services outlined with
the Commonwealth's contracts with Medicaid managed care
organizations; and
WHEREAS, A growing number of infants with prenatal substance
exposure referred to the Department of Human Services by health
care professionals, as required by Federal and State law, are
being classified information only, a status undefined in law,
not subject to any tracking by the department and outside any
measured outcomes; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the Joint
State Government Commission to establish an advisory committee
and conduct a comprehensive study regarding the effectiveness of
the Commonwealth's multidisciplinary approach to infants born
affected by substance use or withdrawal symptoms resulting from
prenatal drug exposure or a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder,
including the success with or barriers to developing plans of
safe care as required by Federal and State law ; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the advisory committee be composed of the
following:
(1) The Secretary of Drug and Alcohol Programs or a
designee who shall be an employee of the Department of Drug
and Alcohol Programs.
(2) The Secretary of Health or a designee who shall be
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30 an employee of the Department of Health.
(3) The Secretary of Human Services or a designee who
shall be an employee of the Department of Human Services.
(4) The executive director of the Center for Rural
Pennsylvania or a designee.
(5) A representative from the Center for Children's
Justice.
(6) A member of the Behavioral Health Council.
(7) A member of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality
Collaborative.
(8) A parent who has experienced receiving treatment
services for substance use disorder.
(9) An employee of a county Children and Youth Services.
(10) Other individuals and organizations selected by the
Joint State Government Commission;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That the advisory committee, in conducting the
study, do all of the following:
(1) Conduct a thorough review from families as to what
they identify as the real or perceived challenges with plans
of safe care and access to clinically appropriate substance
use disorder treatment and recovery services during pregnancy
and the postpartum period.
(2) Evaluate feedback from interdisciplinary
professionals, including stakeholders from health care, child
welfare, early intervention and substance use treatment
professionals regarding plans of safe care and
recommendations for improved outcomes for infants and their
families.
(3) Develop strategies to address the existing
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30 duplication resulting from health care providers being
required to make two distinct notifications, one to the
Department of Health for infants meeting the Neonatal
Abstinence Syndrome case definition and the other to the
Department of Human Services for infants born affected by
prenatal substance exposure, ensuring that any recommended
new approach be grounded in public health toward limiting, as
appropriate, contact with and referrals to the child welfare
system.
(4) Assess outcomes currently measured, including
whether infants, with or without a plan of safe care in
place, are being referred to and tracked as part of the
Commonwealth's early intervention system, participating in
evidence-based home visiting or family centers, receiving
services as outlined in the Medicaid managed care contracts
or discovered in other databases such as trauma registry,
adoption and foster care, protective services and child
death.
(5) Provide projections of or actual costs related to
the identification of the infants, notification to the
Department of Health and the Department of Human Services
about the infants and creating plans of safe care for
infants, including any spending as part of Medicaid managed
care organizations.
(6) Identify how policy, practice, funding priorities
and outcomes measured align or are in conflict across
interdisciplinary local and State publicly funded agencies
and to what degree the policy, practice or funding is
directed to supporting infants and families within a
hospital-based versus community-based setting throughout the
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30 first year of the infant's life and mother's postpartum
period.
(7) Document innovative strategies and successful
information sharing and collaboration, including through
memoranda of understanding.
(8) Evaluate existing or needed State-level strategies
to prevent infant and young child morbidity and mortality;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That the advisory committee issue a report of its
findings to the House of Representatives no later than 18 months
after the adoption of this resolution.
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