Recovering, With Children
Mothers who abuse drugs or alcohol face a special set of problems when they seek treatment. They must not only figure out how their rehabilitation can be financed and their children cared for, they also may not respond well to confrontational treatment often designed for men. A pilot project of the Watts Health Foundation’s Women & Children Center has been testing more nurturing treatment tailored to women. It is one of 11 federal pilot programs in the country.
The center currently houses 40 women and 18 children, virtually all infants or toddlers. Two women and their children (only one child may stay with each woman) share each brightly decorated bedroom; there are also lounges decorated in Asian, African American and Latino themes and a nursery filled with cribs and rocking chairs.
The center is seeking donations of washing machines and dryers and play equipment for the toddlers.
The program costs about $1 million a year and is partly supported by Los Angeles County. Treatment is based on ability to pay, but proposed cuts in federal funding will probably trim payment assistance and increase reliance on referrals from insurance-financed employee assistance programs.
PHILOSOPHY
“We don’t believe that [to change the behavior of a substance abuser] it’s necessary to have a hard focus group, where you put a person in the middle of the circle and strip their dignity. We believe in building self-esteem and a sense of confidence and bringing out women’s self-expression.” Romaine Edwards, director of the project.
HOW IT WORKS
1. County courts, hospitals or the Department of Children’s Services may refer substance abusers for treatment or order them to get it to regain custody of their children. Some hit bottom and seek treatment themselves.
2. Women are screened and given physical examinations at the Watts Health Foundation’s offices and treatment center, called the House of Uhuru. Women must commit to stay at the center for a year and be free of severe mental illness or communicable disease.
3. Those who are good candidates for the residential center in Lynwood “are tired of their lifestyle and not having their kids and willing to do anything” to change their situation, Edwards said. Claudia Camacho, who lives at the center with two-year-old daughter Andrea, had had her four children removed by the county because of domestic violence and drug abuse. “I finally said, ‘I have to do something about myself’ to get them back,” she said.
4. At most, the women may have only one child with them; for the first 30 to 45 days they usually have no children present as they withdraw from drugs or alcohol. Foster care or relative care is arranged. They may have no phone calls, no chocolate and no caffeine in the withdrawal period.
5. The women gradually gain more responsibility and privileges. They attend group and individual counseling sessions on conflict resolution, care-giving and personal relationships. There are also parenting classes, art therapy sessions and Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Family members are also counseled about substance abuse and their relationships with the women being treated.
6. At the end of the program, the women should have developed positive support networks, show healthy family relationships, be able to maintain self-control, complete a written exit plan and have minimum savings of $500, either from a job or assistance payments. Job training is available through state, county and private agencies and the center staff helps the women find housing away from their old neighborhoods to help break old patterns.
PARTICIPANT’S VIEW
Last New Year’s Eve, “I got high on crack cocaine,” said Cynthia Pressley. “I got high every weekend after that. I was a functioning addict, though. I was working at my job.” She had used crack for two years in the 1980s but stopped. This time, she said, she realized she was out of control.
“I need to be in an environment where I can learn about myself. Why do I do this? What’s so screwed up inside me that I can’t function? Once you dump out all the garbage in your mind and sort through it, you may find [something] that you can use but you have to get rid of most of it. Then you can be about that healing process and rebuilding. And it is so important for me that Christopher can be here with me.”
TO GET INVOLVED CALL: (310) 608-0408 ext. 209.
Researched by KAY MILLS / For The Times