The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is announcing Notices of Funding Opportunity for two grant programs aimed at preventing substance misuse and treating substance use disorder (SUD) among pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. The grant opportunities total about $17 million and align with the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to address the nation’s addiction and overdose crises. The grant opportunities further support the Administration’s broad vision and call to action to improve maternal health in the Biden-Harris Administration’s Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis.

Preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 102,429 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in July 2022. According to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), in 2021, 46.3 million people 12 or older (or 16.5 percent of the population) met the applicable Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for having an SUD in the past year. Opioid use during pregnancy has risen significantly¹, with data showing a 131-percent increase in opioid-related diagnoses at delivery between 2010 and 2017.² Opioid use in pregnancy can lead to a range of significant health problems, both in the pregnant person and their baby.³

“SAMHSA is committed to expanding access to evidence-based treatments and recovery supports to address overdose and substance misuse to every demographic and community throughout the United States,” said Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., the Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA. “These grant programs support recovery efforts during and after pregnancy, and they bolster support for families in the areas of substance use prevention and treatment.”

The grant programs are:

• Services Grant Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women – $11.6 million – This program provides comprehensive SUD treatment services, recovery support services, and harm reduction interventions to pregnant and postpartum women across a continuum of specialty residential and outpatient levels of care. Using a holistic approach, grant funds also support required activities for minor children, partners of the women and other extended family members of the women and children, as requested by the women. Central to this is ensuring access to services for low-income women, including providing these services in locations they can access.
• State Pilot Grant Program for Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women – $5.4 million – The program enhances flexibility in the use of funds designed to support family-based services for pregnant and postpartum women who have a primary diagnosis of a SUD, emphasizing the treatment of opioid use disorders; help state agencies address the continuum of SUD care, including services provided to pregnant and postpartum women in nonresidential settings; and promote a coordinated state system managed by state substance agencies by encouraging new approaches and models of service delivery.

Anyone in the United States seeking treatment for substance use issues should call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit findtreatment.gov.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

¹American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2017). Opioid use and opioid use disorder in pregnancy. Committee Opinion 711.

²Hirai, A. H., Ko, J. Y., Owens, P. L., Stocks, C., & Patrick, S. W. (2021). Neonatal abstinence syndrome and maternal opioid-related diagnoses in the US, 2010–2017. JAMA, 325(2), 146–155.

3Patrick, S. W., Barfield, W. D., Poindexter, B. B., Cummings, J., Hand, I., Adams-Chapman, I., … Walker-Harding, L. (2020). Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Pediatrics, 146(5), e2020029074.