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| This state figured out that addicted moms need treatment not jail |
| By fusion.net- Meredith Derby Berg |
| Published: 01/19/2016 |
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Kayla Duggan, a heroin addict, had just started a one-year jail sentence in Massachusetts when she was startled to learn she was pregnant. Only a few months earlier she had given birth to a baby girl who was immediately taken into foster care and whom Duggan then gave up for adoption. This time she wanted to be part of her child’s life. Her chance came about because of a policy change in Massachusetts in which women addicts, particularly mothers, are increasingly directed to intensive drug treatment and away from time behind bars. Duggan, who was imprisoned in late 2012 for a domestic violence and drug-related conviction, was paroled after serving four months of her sentence and entered a residential drug-treatment program for mothers run by Spectrum Health Systems. Spectrum, a private company that works with the Department of Correction, also has smaller outpatient clinics across the state. Duggan gave birth to her son, Giovanni, while living there, still under correction department custody, and remained until he was six-months-old. Afterward she moved into a Boston halfway house. Read More. |
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