Family foundations: A new program for pregnant and parenting women offenders with substance abuse histories.

Community Reintegration

May 2021

Full Citation

Wiewel, B., & Mosley, T. (2006). Family foundations: A new program for pregnant and parenting women offenders with substance abuse histories. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 43(1), 65-91.

Abstract

A new program in California partners the California Department of Corrections with a non-profit drug treatment agency on behalf of pregnant or parenting women who are drug offenders with substance abuse histories. The women are sentenced to the family foundations facility for one year and receive a range of special services to prepare for community re-entry. This paper provides a description of the population and elements of a treatment model designed to reduce recidivism by improving the success of community transition for the targeted families. A case study demonstrates the impact on one mother-child dyad where successful transition to the community and completion of a one-year parole was achieved. Given that the numbers of incarcerated women in California have increased fivefold in the last 20 years (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995), that close to 10% of those women were pregnant when they entered prison (California Department of Corrections, 1999), and that over two-thirds of them were convicted for non-violent drug or property crime (California Department of Corrections, 2001), it is incumbent on criminal justice and treatment systems to stop relying on policies and programs designed for male offenders. The family foundations model represents one of the newest approaches in the nation for dealing with parenting women offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)