Welfare Reform, Child Protective Services and the Substance Abuse Problem

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Welfare Reform, Child Protective Services and the
Substance Abuse Problem

• Meta House

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It takes two things to move substance-abusing
women from welfare to work

• Treatment programs that are specifically geared
  to meet the needs of mothers.
• Funding that allows for autonomy, spontaneity,
  creativity and the integration of many services

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Meta House4/01/93 - 12/31/96

• Marital Status
• Single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . 80.46
• Married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . 7.28
• Divorced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . 7.28
• Widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . 0.38
• Separated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . 4.60
• Employed
• Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . 0.77
• No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . 99.23

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Diploma Did not Graduate High School . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 80.45 HSG . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.40 GED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.15 Housing Percentage Living in Shelter or on
the Street . . .33.00 Mental Health Percentage
who are Dually Diagnosed . . . . . . .
65.00 Children Average Number of Children per
Mother . . . . . . . 2.8 Percent of Children
with Physical/ Psychological Diagnosis . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 64.00
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• On a two-year follow-up
• 90.6 had no cocaine use
• 71.9 had no alcohol use
• 98.7 of the women who entered our program had no
  days of any kind of illegal activities
• 54.6 were employed
• 18.2 were unable to work and received SSI

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• 18 extremely high risk children were born healthy
  
• 87 children were returned from foster care (208
  children)

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Womens Substance AbuseTreatment

• The substance abuse treatment field now
  recognizes that while positive outcomes for
  treatment are generally linked to length of stay,
  for women with children, positive outcomes are
  linked
• to length of stay
• tight structure
• high intensity

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• Welfare Reform, Child Protection, and Substance
  Abuse Treatment are disciplines that are
  intimately related and dependent upon each other
  for success.

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If any one of these programs - Welfare Reform,
Child Protective Services or substance abuse
treatment does not work, all three will fail.
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We need to address all of these, at the same time
and as they affect each other, if any one of
these programs is to succeed.
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Meta House Potential Contracting Agencies
PIC
W 2
Region 1 YW
Region 2 UMOS
Region 3 OIC
Region 4
Region 5
Region 6 Maximus
Welfare Reform
Goodwill
Curative
Region 1 New Ventures
Region 2 Milwaukee County
Region 3 Innovative Partnerships Inc.
Region 4 New Ventures
Region 5 Milwaukee County
Case Manage- ment
Admin Site
C P S
Child Welfare
Region 4 New Ventures
Region 1 Magellan
Region 2 Milw. Cty.
Region 3 Innovative
Region 5 Milw. Cty.
Safety Serv.
H M O s
Medical Treatment
Family Health Plan
Managed Health Services
MaxiCare
Network Health Plan
PrimeCare
Humana - WHO
Compcare
Milwaukee County
United Way
State of Wisconsin
Housing Abandoned Infants Respite Care
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Federal Government
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Funding Contractors and Their Varying Expected
Outcomes
Interested Participants Expected Short-Term
Outcomes Expected Long-Term Outcomes
W-2 Sites
Remission of Substance-Abusing Behavior Work
Support Program
Self-Sufficiency
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CPS Sites - Casemanagement
Remission of Substance-Abusing Behavior Services
to prepare for reunification
Reunification of well functioning family
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CPS Sites - Safety Services
Remission of Substance-Abusing Behavior Support
Services to family to insure Child Safety
Unification of functioning family
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4
5
HMOs
Respond to immediate crisis. Remission of
Substance-Abusing Behavior
None
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Substance Abuse Treatment Grants for Women
Children
Remission of Substance-Abusing Behavior Work
Support Program Support services for family
reunification Support services for family
unification
Sobriety maintained by self-sufficiency and
acceptable family functioning
M.C.
U.W.
BSAS
CSAT HUD Etc.
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