TITLE
Title
DHHS - DIVISION OF SOCIAL SERVICES - CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT (CAPTA) UPDATE
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Heather Skeens (Sharon Barlow)
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BACKGROUND
Background
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is the federal law that governs Child Protective Services (CPS) across the country. This past year, CAPTA was amended and signed into law as it relates to Infant Safe Plan of Care. New provisions in the law included changes for young children, mandating:
1) Hospitals are required to make CPS reports on substance affected newborns
2) CPS must refer children under the age of three, to include substance affected newborns, for early intervention services.
With the newly signed law, states must have policies, provisions and plans of safe care to assist both infants and their families or caretakers if they are affected by any type of substance abuse. In addition, states must report data on the following:
• number of infants identified under this new provision
• number of infants for whom a plan of care was developed; and
• the number of such infants for whom a referral was made for appropriate services, including services for the affected family or caregiver.
The new change in law has the potential to impact Guilford County DHHS-DSS. There is expected to be an increase in the number of CPS reports and number of referrals to CC4C. This in turn, could increase the number of reports the Children’s Services division will accept, adding additional cases to existing caseloads.
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Receive updates on CAPTA amendments.
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