Voices of Families: Insights from Washington State Listening Sessions
Safe Babies, a program of ZERO TO THREE™, conducted listening sessions with families across Washington state. These sessions aimed to gather insights from parents who had used substances during pregnancy, focusing on their experiences with treatment services, health care, peer support, navigating through the child welfare system, service availability, domestic violence and housing.
Key Findings:
1. Treatment Services
Access to quality treatment services is inconsistent, with significant barriers for pregnant women, especially those with mental health issues.
Recommendations include opening more treatment facilities, providing thorough aftercare services, and ensuring detox services are readily available with priority for pregnant families.
2. Health Care
Pregnant mothers using substances often feel judged and unsupported by healthcare providers.
Recommendations include training medical staff to address substance use openly, providing harm reduction education, and ensuring access to resources like Help Me Grow.
3. Peer Support
Peer support is crucial but often only available after child welfare involvement.
Recommendations include expanding peer support roles, providing training, and integrating peers into various service points like WIC offices and hospitals.
4. Relationships with Child Welfare
Many parents reported negative interactions with child welfare staff, feeling judged and unsupported.
Recommendations include trauma-informed care training for professionals, changing mandatory reporting practices, and improving communication and empathy from child welfare workers.
5. Service Availability
Service availability varies greatly, with rural areas often lacking adequate resources.
Recommendations include prioritizing funding for pregnancy-related treatment services and piloting family-based treatment providers.
6. Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is a common co-occurring issue, with limited services available outside of CPS involvement.
Recommendations include screening for domestic violence, offering services to partners, and providing clearer paths to domestic violence advocates.
7. Housing
Access to affordable, safe housing is a significant barrier, with many parents fearing child removal due to housing instability.
Recommendations include increasing access to housing vouchers, providing incentives for clean and sober facilities, and offering harm-reduction supports.
Overall Recommendations
- Treat families with dignity and respect, using clear communication and providing tangible support.
- Employ peer parents in a variety of agencies to offer support and build trust with families.
- Use universal tools like resource cards and text messaging to increase engagement.
- Address policy changes to allow earlier access to peer support and expand service availability.
The listening sessions highlighted the need for a more compassionate, supportive approach to helping families dealing with substance use during pregnancy. By implementing these recommendations, Washington State can better support these families, ensuring healthier outcomes for parents and children alike. Special thanks to the 35 parents who participated, the Perigee Fund’s Community Collaboratives funded projects and the Ballmer Group for their support.
ZERO TO THREE deeply appreciates Ballmer Group for its generous support of our work to scale the Safe Babies approach. We’d like to especially thank Connie Ballmer for her vision and commitment to transforming the child welfare system so that all babies thrive. Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities.
