The mothers of Black newborns are more likely than those of White newborns to be referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy, according to The Marshall Project’s new analysis of child welfare data from eight states. The referrals are often the result of unreliable hospital drug tests performed at childbirth that are easily misinterpreted and produce false positive results as much as half of the time, which can prompt incorrect reporting to child welfare and law enforcement authorities.

Medical centers can report claims of pregnancy substance use to child welfare agencies, which can then refer the cases to law enforcement. Using birth rates in eight states, The Marshall Project estimated that Black babies are around two and a half times more likely than White babies to be flagged to law enforcement over claims of substance exposure in the womb. The analysis is the first to measure the overrepresentation of Black newborns among these referrals and the disproportionate impact they can have on Black families.

During a seven-year period, child welfare agencies across 20 states referred the parents of more than 25,000 Black newborns to police or prosecutors over alleged pregnancy substance use, The Marshall Project found. In eight of those states that had enough detailed data to compare estimated rates of referrals across Black and White children, all showed referrals were more common when the cases involved Black families.

Child welfare data on newborns of other races and ethnicities was not provided to The Marshall Project.

In Oklahoma, an estimated 1 in 11 Black babies were flagged to law enforcement over accusations of pregnancy substance use. In Minnesota, the families of Black newborns were estimated to be about three and a half times more likely than those of White newborns to be referred to police.

Child welfare agencies can refer allegations to police or prosecutors even when their investigations clear the parents or find no evidence that they posed an urgent threat. The Marshall Project found this occurred with a considerable number of Black families. In a seven-year period, more than 14,000 cases involving Black newborns were sent to law enforcement agencies in the eight states, even though child welfare authorities did not conclude that child abuse or neglect occurred.

The data does not spell out why cases against Black families are more common, but decades of research spanning the country has shown that racial disparities are embedded through every step of the child welfare process. Black women are more likely than White women to be drug tested at childbirth and reported to child welfare authorities, more likely to be investigated and more likely to be separated from their children, previous studies have found.

The data also does not specify what happens after cases are referred to law enforcement. Many of these reports are filed away without consequence. But other mothers have been shamed, surveilled, arrested, jailed, prosecuted and left with enduring trauma.

The referrals to police likely contribute to higher rates of depression and stress among Black postpartum women, exacerbating the Black maternal mortality crisis, said Miriam Mack, senior legal counsel at the advocacy group Movement for Family Power.

“It’s not about what you do, what substances you use, how much you’re using, whether you’re using, but it’s about who you are,” Mack said. “It’s about the simple fact that you are Black and you have given birth in the hospital.”

The Marshall Project has previously documented the harms to Black mothers who are drug tested during childbirth. Ayanna Harris-Rashid was arrested in South Carolina in 2021 after testing positive due to legal CBD gummies and a topical hemp-based ointment she took during her pregnancy. Amid the stress of criminal charges and incarceration, she lost the ability to breastfeed her newborn son.

Melissa Robinson, a Black elementary school librarian in Alabama, was investigated in 2024 after she had a false positive test for cocaine. The hospital barred Robinson from breastfeeding and child welfare officials told her she could not be alone with her baby, even though a second hospital drug test disproved the allegation against her. The case was ultimately closed due to insufficient evidence.

“To have such a beautiful experience tainted by something like that, it’s difficult,” Robinson told The Marshall Project in 2024. “Truthfully, it’s turned me into somebody different.”

To conduct the analysis, The Marshall Project obtained seven years of data, stretching between mid-2018 and mid-2024, from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, which stores the information from state child welfare agencies. The eight states with more detailed numbers on........

© Mother Jones