Women who struggle with substance abuse have unique challenges in recovery when compared to men. Women tend to be more involved with their families than men who are in recovery and can have strong family relations that fuel their addiction. It is also problematic when their partner is also an addict. Often they come from a dysfunctional family that can be emotionally distance, noncommunicative and not supportive. Being pregnant as well as being a new mother can put a woman under intense stress and they may turn to unhealthy habits.
A child living in a home with a mother who has an addiction is extremely dangerous. Helping mothers get clean is essential for every child. Babies that are born 'exposed' are experiencing neonatal abstinence syndrome. This will cause the newborn to experience tremors, insomnia, sweating, fevers, seizures and a high pitched cry that cannot be consoled by normal means. The severity of the symptoms depends on the severity of drug use during pregnancy. These symptoms usually last only a few weeks. Many of these moms have feelings of guilt and shame for the things have done to their child.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) describes children who are born exposed to drugs and experience symptoms of withdrawal shortly after birth. refers to cases in which newborns experience drug withdrawal shortly after birth.
One major need is access to a drug treatment program and for the mothers to be able to take substitute medications such as methadone. Methadone will relieve the withdrawal symptoms and they will be prescribed a lesser and lesser does until they will be drug-free. The second major need is for them to receive support with medical care for their children as well as baby supplies such as diapers and a crib which are all provided through the program.
What kind of services do they receive
LCFS' Intact Family Recovery is different from other intact programs. We partner with Chicago's Rincon Family Services to provide support to mothers who are undergoing rehab for substance abuse. A mother is referred to the program after giving birth to a substance-exposed baby or having been reported to abuse or neglect due to substance abuse. to provide support to children and families in which the mother is undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse. Mothers are usually referred to the program by DCFS after giving birth to a substance-exposed infant or having neglected or abused her children due to her substance abuse.
Our program joins the child welfare with alcohol and other drug abuse treatment in a team effort to provide comprehensive services to families in the recovery process. 18 to 24 months We have 3 phases. In phase one we prepare for treatment, arrange for childcare medical care, school assessment, and additional services. In stage two support the client during treatment strengthen parent skills to develop goals and aftercare plans. In the third phase, we focus on maintaining recovery and continue developing skills and goals.
Our goals are to Ensuring the safety of the newborn child. We Montinture the baby as well as other minor siblings and advocate for the family with schools doctors and other agencies
Families who are in the intact program receive a variety of services. They have a case manager who monitors them to make sure they are keeping up with the program and assesses needs and connect them to services. They are also connected with inpatient and outpatient drug treatment programs. We provide counseling, refer to in and outpatient drug treatment programs. We provide parental training as well as link clients to additional services such as support groups and food pantries. My favorite service is a thrift store where all items are free for clients. They have clothes, cribs, furniture and anything you could need.
How does the program work?
A caseworker helps the family create a plan for change. Issues such as domestic violence and mental health problems can create a chaotic home for the child if they are not corrected. We provide counseling, substance abuse treatment parenting classes as well as help those search for housing who need it.
For the first 45 days, the Intact Family worker makes visits at the home every week to provide services and do drops which are drug tests.
The Intact worker works with other service providers to monitor attendance, receive progress reports to ensure the client is maintaining close contact with the service providers to monitor your attendance, obtain progress reports to ensure the client is benefiting and participating in services.
Next, the worker will make unannounced visits to ensure client cooperation and the visits may decrease depending on the assessment of risk for the children. The visits will be no less than twice per month. Once risk is reduced and safety is stable and maintainable the worker will discuss closing the case.
Intervention models utilized
The IFR model provides a variety of interventions. One of the most significant features of the model is a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which fully disclosed the program and its conditions including the use of graduated sanctions such as protective orders, moderated community services for parents and the ultimate sanction of future screening for the temporary custody of children. The Recovery Coach Program (RCP) serves families in which children have been removed from the custody of one or both parents because of substance-related maltreatment. The goal of the RCP is to reunify families when the parents can provide a safe and drug-free home for their children. The Illinois proposal is focused on keeping families together and helping parents start and maintain recovery so that they can be safe and effective parents for their children. The model we have proposed pairs a recovery coordinator with an intact family services caseworker and embeds the recovery coordinator in the child welfare provider's agency. It also lengthens the time an intact family can be involved in services.
Suggestions
I have not found many problems with our current program however, one issue that I believe that is overlooked is assisting women who are pregnant and have a substance abuse problem. We do not intervene until the baby is already born. We need to provide services specifically targeted for pregnant mothers who want to avoid having an exposed baby.
I also believe that this program should be offered as a voluntary program for new mothers who are currently enrolled in other drug treatment programs. We need to connect and communicate with the drug treatment programs that we are utilizing and try and get them to offer the program to any mothers they are services regardless of the age of their children.
Stuck on your essay?
