Parents on Drugs, Babies at Risk: Confronting a Growing Crisis

November

2025

Past Event

Parents on Drugs, Babies at Risk: Confronting a Growing Crisis

Event Summary

On November 3, AEI’s Naomi Schaefer Riley hosted a panel event on parental substance use and infant safety. The event began with a presentation by Sarah Font of Washington University in St. Louis on data about prenatal substance exposure (PSE), including recent data collected through the Lives Cut Short project. Dr. Font highlighted that over 60 percent of children in foster care were prenatally exposed to substances. Despite federal efforts to protect these children at greater risk of harm, these laws remain largely ineffective in ensuring their safety.

After Dr. Font’s presentation, the panel discussed policy and practice challenges regarding PSE. Former New Mexico State Representative Tara Jaramillo highlighted New Mexico’s legislative history and its failures to protect vulnerable children. Christopher Spencer Greeley of Baylor College of Medicine discussed how flawed screening and diagnostic challenges can produce unreliable data on infant deaths. Emily Putnam-Hornstein of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shared five of the most common factors associated with infant fatalities that appear in the data, revealing notable trends across cases. Aly Rau Brodsky of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity shared her personal experience as a foster parent, emphasizing that parents’ time apart from their children can sometimes support the parents’ recovery from addiction.

The event concluded with an audience Q&A.

—Abby Wallen

Event Description

Parental substance use is a common factor in child maltreatment fatalities, especially infants, and may contribute to the nation’s rising infant mortality rate. Join as AEI’s Naomi Schaefer Riley will moderate a discussion examining the impact of parental substance use on child safety, including an analysis of maltreatment fatality cases involving substance use from the Lives Cut Short project. The panel will also discuss a recent legislative change in New Mexico to increase protections for infants exposed to drugs in utero. The panel will feature Lives Cut Short principal investigators Sarah Font and Emily Putnam-Hornstein, Christopher Spencer Greeley of Texas Children’s Hospital, Aly Rau Brodsky of The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, and former New Mexico State Representative Tara Jaramillo.

Event Materials

Lives Cut Short

Past Event