Understanding Opioid-Exposed Children

Children with prenatal opioid exposure are now entering our foster homes, adoptive families, and communities by the hundreds of thousands—yet few caregivers have been taught how opioid exposure can affect the developing brain long after the newborn period.

This engaging, hope-filled session moves beyond the myths of NAS to explore the long-term effects of prenatal opioid exposure on learning, behavior, sensory processing, emotional regulation, executive functioning, attachment, and more. Caregivers will gain a new understanding of why these children struggle, helping replace frustration with compassion and practical strategies.

Whether you’re parenting a child with a known history of opioid exposure or simply wondering if it could explain what you’re seeing, this presentation will change the way you understand and support the children in your care.

You’ll leave with greater confidence, renewed hope, and practical insights you can begin using immediately.

This course is taught by Lenette Serio. Lenette is the Founder and CEO of Generation O, The National Organization for Opioid-Exposed Children, and an adoptive mother of four substance-exposed children, including two sons with prenatal opioid exposure. Drawing on both lived experience and the latest research, she educates caregivers and professionals nationwide about the long-term effects of prenatal opioid exposure. Lenette serves on the NIH HEAL Human Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study National Liaison Board and is a national advocate working to improve outcomes for opioid-exposed children and the families raising them.