Pregnancy and Alcohol: Legal Significance for Child Abuse/Child Neglect

(Period Covered: 1/1/2003 through 1/1/2011)

This policy topic covers laws that clarify the admissibility of evidence in child welfare proceedings regarding prenatal alcohol exposure as it pertains to allegations of child abuse, child neglect, child deprivation, or child dependence, or proceedings seeking termination of parental rights.  

Scientific research has established that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with adverse health consequences.  Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is the term used to describe the range of birth defects caused by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy.  FASD are considered the most common nonhereditary cause of mental retardation.  Included in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders is the diagnosis often referred to as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which is the most severe form of FASD. It is characterized by facial defects, growth deficiencies, and central nervous system dysfunction.  Also included in FASD are other types of alcohol-induced mental impairments that are just as serious, if not more so, than in children with FAS.  The term "alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder" (ARND) has been developed to describe such impairments. Prenatally exposed children can also have other alcohol-related physical abnormalities of the skeleton and certain organ systems; these are known as alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD). (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, June 2000; Warren and Foudin, 2001; SAMHSA, 2004).

The legal significance of a woman's conduct prior to birth of a child and of damage caused in utero varies considerably across jurisdictions. Some States have adopted statutes and/or regulations that clarify the rules for evidence of prenatal alcohol exposure in child welfare proceedings (e.g., those alleging child abuse, child neglect, child deprivation, or child dependence, or concerning termination of parental rights).  This section of APIS addresses these statutes and regulations.

Explanatory Notes and Limitations Specifically Applicable to Pregnancy and Alcohol:  Legal Significance for Child Abuse/Child Neglect

1.  APIS collects legal provisions that either specifically refer to FASD or issues related to prenatal alcohol exposure or refer to a condition that reasonably may be interpreted as referring to FASD or prenatal alcohol exposure (e.g., "prenatal substance abuse," "prenatal legal drug abuse") or to a condition that reasonably may be interpreted as referring to alcohol abuse (e.g., "substance abuse," "use of legal drugs," "addictive drug," "drug of abuse").
    
2. APIS does not collect provisions that refer only to "controlled substances" or those that exclude alcohol.

Explanatory Notes and Limitations Applicable to All APIS Policy Topics 

1. State law may permit local jurisdictions to impose requirements in addition to those mandated by State law. Alternatively, State law may prohibit local legislation on this topic, thereby preempting local powers. APIS does not document policies established by local governments. 
    
2. In addition to statutes and regulations, judicial decisions (case law) also may affect alcohol-related policies. APIS does not review case law except to determine whether judicial decisions have invalidated statutes or regulations that would otherwise affect the data presented in the comparison tables. 
    
3. APIS reviews published administrative regulations. However, administrative decisions or directives that are not included in a State's published regulatory codes may have an impact on implementation. This possibility has not been addressed by the APIS research. 
    
4. Statutes and regulations cited in tables on this policy topic may have been amended or repealed after the specific date or time period specified by the site user's search criteria. 
    
5. A comprehensive understanding of the data presented in the comparison tables for this policy topic requires examination of the applicable Row Notes and Jurisdiction Notes, which can be accessed from the body of the table via links in the Jurisdiction column. 

(Policies in effect on: 1/1/2011)

Our research identified no Federal statutes or regulations pertaining to a woman's alcohol consumption during pregnancy as a factor in child abuse/child neglect proceedings.
 

1. ETOH Database: A comprehensive online bibliographic database containing over 100,000 records on alcohol abuse and alcoholism. ETOH contains citations to research findings from the late 1960s to December 2003 as well as historical research literature. A thesaurus is available for searching alcohol and other drug terms including a subset index of language used in the ETOH database (http://etoh.niaaa.nih.gov ).
   
   
2. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 10th Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health.  NIH Pub. No. 0011583.  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 283-338, 2000.
    
3. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).  Fetal Alcohol Exposure and the Brain.  Alcohol Alert No. 50. Rockville, MD:  NIAAA, 2000.
    
4. Hankin, J. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Research.  Alcohol Research & Health 26(1):58-65, 2002.
    
5. Warren, K.R., and Foudin, L.L. Alcohol-related birth defects: The past, present, and future.  Alcohol Research & Health 25(3):153-158, 2001 (issue devoted to alcohol related birth defects).
    
6. Stratton, K.; Howe, C.; and Battaglia, F., eds. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Prevention, and Treatment. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 1996.
    
7. SAMHSA Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Center for Excellence, http://www.fascenter.samhsa.gov, Dec. 27, 2004.