Data Brief: Dramatic Decline in ACS Investigations for Parental Drug Use Among NYC Mothers with Newborns
This data brief was created by New York City Family Policy Project.
In 2020, when Movement for Family Power released a report documenting the child welfare system as ground zero of the drug war, almost 950 New York City mothers with newborns faced an ACS investigation alleging parental drug use. By last year, that had dropped by almost 80%.
For Black mothers of newborns, the shift has been even starker, with cases alleging substance use falling to 65 in 2024 from almost 600 in 2017, a reduction of nearly 90%.
There is no evidence that newborns and infants are less safe because of reduced ACS involvement. Child maltreatment fatalities of children under 6 months and under 1 are rare in NYC and have remained stable since 2017.
Behind these numbers are two policy changes driven by advocacy:
In 2020, NYC’s public hospitals ended a practice of drug testing pregnant patients without their consent; written consent is now required.
There’s been a growing effort in NYC for family-serving institutions, including hospitals, to directly connect parents to support, rather than relying on child welfare as a middleman.