In February 1998 in one of the poorest counties in the Nation - Robeson County, NC, Grace Court opened its doors for 24 families in recovery to be reunited by the courts from the foster care system. This cutting edge, innovative program has been replicated 8 times in the state of North Carolina. Why is it that more affluent counties such as Montgomery County, MD that sells beer, wine and liquor in county operated stores, earning over $37.4m annually (therefore contributing to the problem of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) does not have even one such program? I want to change that.
My book, "The Silent Epidemic: A Child Psychiatrist's Journey beyond Death Row" (www.prenatalalcoholexposure.com) explores these and other important healthcare disparities and social determinants of health related to the global crisis in our mental health and substance abuse services system that leaves women of color particularly vulnerable. A combination of social forces such as more liquor stores in communities of color than grocery stores as well as incarceration of their partners leaving them single parents in the face of limited substance abuse treatment for women with their children lead to loss of parenting rights. We asked returning residents at a community-based halfway house for pregnant women why they kept coming back every two years with another pregnancy and they responded, "Because the government keeps taking my babies away from me." How fair is it to remove a woman's parental rights when their are not enough treatment programs to meet the burgeoning need and not enough places for contraception for women using substances? We decided it wasn't fair and created Grace Court - a place where women and their children can live in their own 4 and 5 bedroom apartments, attend school or work and receive services in an on-site community building for up to 2 years.
As a psychiatrist, I have toured the grounds of our state psychiatric hospitals which include hundreds of acres of land now unused. Why not convert some of that land to housing for women in recovery and their children, as well as for individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) - many of whom become homeless, unemployed, destitute, incarcerated, sex trafficked and socially disenfranchised - revolving through the criminal justice system and mental health system. The average life expectancy for individuals with FASD is (not surprisingly) 34 years old due to more than 440 noncommunicable illnesses, overdoses, high risk lifestyle behaviors, suicide, homicide, and accidents. Why not reunite mothers and their children in rehabilitation communities like we created in North Carolina more than two decades ago?
If any community PACEs organization has the vision and motivation to create an affordable, inclusive transitional housing community for women and non-men in recovery to be reunited with their children from foster care (or never lose custody of their children in the first place), please contact me. I would love to get a program started in our great state of Maryland or another state with vision of improving social determinants of health for individuals with FASD and birth mothers.
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