To round out the services listed above, an assortment of ancillary services may be necessary.
These include, but are not limited to:
- Child care and babysitting services in general, and especially during service visits.
- Assistance in obtaining safe living arrangements and locations.
- Public transportation or taxi vouchers for service visits.
- Family support services and training in parenting skills.
- Training in life management skills such as personal care, time management, and budgeting skills.
- Outreach services, which might include any one of the above-mentioned items.
- Legal services, including counsel in cases involving domestic violence, divorce, child custody, and right to treatment.
Each mother should receive an individual service and care plan responsive to the unique needs of her family.
Wherever possible, services should be gender-specific, as well as culturally specific, addressing the particular circumstances of the woman and her children.
Services should be designed to aid rather than punish women; to this end, focus groups consisting of addicted and recovering mothers might be convened to share information on what they consider to be particularly useful services.
Service providers should also make use of recovering mothers as role models and community-based outreach workers to help with visits, transportation, and support.
Incentives should be offered for successful completion of services, including followup.
Such incentives could include: donated infant supplies, infant blankets, diapers, formula, baby furniture, toys and educational toys, and coupons for specific food items.
Finally, service providers should be sensitive to the varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds of women who use alcohol and other drugs, and should therefore tailor services accordingly.
Such sensitivity has a significant impact on both service utilization and compliance with the recommended treatment.
Site Map
Help
Account
Cart
Home
