ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A new recovery home for moms struggling with addiction is coming to Lehigh County.<\/p>\n
It’s a first for the area.<\/p>\n
Located on North Eighth Street in Allentown, these houses will soon become homes for Lehigh County’s new Mommy and Me program.<\/p>\n
A sober living facility where women struggling with addiction can safely stay with their children and receive services for recovery.<\/p>\n
“So the goal is for the women to be in the home around six months and then with additional supports, transition to their own apartments in the community,” says Molly Stanton, the Assistant Administrator for Lehigh County Drug and Alcohol.<\/p>\n
The program is being paid for with opioid settlement funds: Non-taxpayer money Pennsylvania counties were given to combat the crisis.<\/p>\n
Mommy and Me has been in operation since April, with clients being housed at West Minister Homes of the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
“The women that are in the program now are just blossoming they’re doing amazingly well. It’s really been something we’ve been lacking for this population in our county for a long time,” Stanton says<\/p>\n
The new property on Eighth Street will provide a larger space to help more women get the help they need.<\/p>\n
The concept is a new one, and research shows, it’s much needed.<\/p>\n
“What we’ve found was that women, particularly with children, fail to complete drug and alcohol treatment because they wanted to get home to their kids,” says Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan.<\/p>\n
County leaders say women often have a hard time finding reliable, safe child care while they are in recovery. This puts them in a place where they might fail to complete treatment, or relapse later on.<\/p>\n
Mommy and Me aims to bridge those gaps, and keep families together.<\/p>\n
“This program is really gonna be able to intervene in that cycle and perhaps prevent the next generation from following in the footsteps of addiction,” says Stanton.<\/p>\n