Keeping families together is aim of new, expanding addiction recovery programs in Columbus

When Christina Perry runs out to her car to get something, she no longer sees her 10-year-old daughter Karen watching from the window, making sure she comes back.

It's a new level of trust in their relationship, said Perry, 30, as the former addict wasn't always able to be there for Karen.

But Perry has now been sober for more than three years, and Karen has lived with her for most of that time — thanks in large part to Amethyst, an Alvis recovery program.

The Amethyst program is one of approximately 360 family-based residential treatment programs across the country that allow women to go through residential addiction recovery with their children, or help them get custody of their children back as they work through recovery.

But with an estimated 8.7 million children in the U.S. living with at least one parent with a substance use disorder, and only an estimated 5% of people with addiction ever getting treatment, experts say there are far too few places like Amethyst.

The need is one of the reasons that Amethyst, a nearly 40-year-old program, is expanding with a new program that will open in Columbus later this year.

Another organization, Volunteers of America Ohio and Indiana, is also working to open Fresh Start Family Focused Recovery Program in downtown Columbus this spring.

Similar to Amethyst, the program will focus on keeping families together, though the Fresh Start program is focused on helping pregnant mothers in hopes of increasing healthy births, said Jennifer Martinez, vice president of Behavioral Health Operations in Ohio.

The need for recovery services in Columbus, Franklin County

More than 3,200 Ohio children were removed from their homes in 2023 due to a parent's substance use, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Meanwhile, the hundreds of family-based residential recovery programs for parents with children in the nation are not covering as much ground as people may think, said Margaret Ratcliff, an executive vice president with Volunteers of America's national office.

Programs exist in 48 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, but some states have many programs while others have few, creating huge gaps, said Ratcliff, who worked on a 2019 study that examined the number of programs in the nation.

Part of the reason for those gaps is because of struggles with funding. Amethyst and Fresh Start are both funded through multiple sources, including state and federal grants, private donations and Medicaid. There are also efforts to get insurance companies to help fund programs like these, she said.

"There are a lot of untreated people," Ratcliff said. "Women with children have a harder time getting into treatment if they can't bring their children. ... What's very important, of course, is keeping the family together. There's nothing that harms the child more than being separated, losing that bond."

Both Amethyst and Volunteers of America — both of which do or will accept mothers with multiple children up to age 18 — understand the existing need for family-based recovery programs in Columbus, as does Franklin County Children Services.

In 2023, the Franklin County agency investigated 842 cases of infants who were exposed to substances prenatally or who were affected by their parent's substance use, spokesman Scott Varner said.

"This type of program is definitely much needed in our community as a way to help keep children with parents who need an inpatient level of substance abuse treatment," Varner said of Volunteers of America's Fresh Start Family Focused Recovery program.

More spots opening for women, their children

Amethyst has a new, larger campus under development on Westerville Road on Columbus' Northeast Side. Slated to be completed later this year, it will be able to house 52 women and their children, compared to the 25 units in its existing buildings on Mound Road that will be replaced by the new campus.

Volunteers of America (VOA) has a five-story building at the corner of State and Fifth streets in downtown Columbus that is expected to open in July for its Fresh Start program, and will be able to house approximately 34 women and their children, Martinez said.

The residential treatment center will feature medical care, addiction therapy, behavioral health services, onsite day care and other supports for families.

The goal with the new VOA program, which will be open to all women, is to keep families together, Martinez said. Fresh Start hopes to serve 120 women per year, with women staying there for 90 to 120 days before they are assisted in finding housing and jobs.

"We want to prevent (county) Children Services from having to get involved," she said. "What we really want to do is intervene while mom is still pregnant."

Then they can help mothers access prenatal care and stop using drugs.

"There's a lot of guilt and shame that goes with this," Martinez said of women who have substance use disorder and become pregnant. "Even women who want to stop using substances are afraid to reach out for help because they're afraid they're going to lose their kids. That is a very reasonable fear to have."

More than 200 children were removed from their Franklin County homes last year due at least in part to a parent's substance abuse, Varner said, despite research evidence of trauma that is often caused by separating children from their parents. At the same time 479 families, about 32%, who engaged in ongoing care with the agency last year, had cases involving concerns about at least one parent's drug or alcohol abuse.

"I can count on both hands the number of agencies that (treat women)," said Linda Janes, Amethyst's chief operating officer. "I think we're unique, but we can't serve 100% (of those in need)."

'We would've been separated'

Prevention worked well for Linda Armstrong, who entered a similar VOA program in Indiana right after giving birth to her daughter Emerson, who is now 2.

Armstrong, 37, was at risk of losing custody of her unborn child when she learned of a VOA Fresh Start program near her home in Lebanon, Indiana. She knew if she lost her daughter she would likely go back to using methamphetamines.

Then, Fresh Start accepted her and taught Armstrong how to build the structure and routine she needed to get and stay sober, and raise her daughter.

"The Fresh Start program changed my life," Armstrong said. "I know reunification is big when it comes to kids getting reunited with their family, but if they can keep them together as they go through, it makes all the difference in the world."

Even if moms need residential treatment for addiction, they may not seek care because they fear leaving or losing custody of their children, Martinez said.

There are also fewer addiction treatment programs for women than men — and even fewer for women with children, she said.

But bringing children into the program with their mothers is exactly how the trajectory of the opioid epidemic can be changed, Martinez said.

"Get kids on that path so they don't repeat what happened with their parents," she said.

'Breaking the cycle'

Perry was part of a cycle of addiction. Her mother used drugs during her entire childhood, eventually fatally overdosing in 2012. And each of her three siblings also struggle with addiction.

"Addiction runs in my family," Perry said. "I've seen it my whole life, and I started using at 13."

Amethyst allows women like Perry to stay up to two years if necessary, Janes said. They help women get their children back or set up visitation with them and work their case plans with Children Services, she said.

"It's not only helping moms, it's breaking the cycle," Janes said.

As part of the program, Perry learned that while she can't change her past, she can move forward and parent in a healthy way.

"I'm finally at the place in my life where I know that I can't change my past, I can't change what I exposed my daughter to or anything she's been through," Perry said. "Me staying sober, me being her mom now — that's the only thing I have control over. I don't have to be a perfect mom as long as I'm doing my best."

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opioid epidemic isn't over; new addiction program to open in Columbus