October 26, 1999
UW expands Parent-Child Assistance Program to Eastern Washington
A University of Washington program that has proven highly effective in intervening with expectant and new mothers who abuse alcohol and drugs is expanding into Spokane, Grant and Yakima counties.
The expansion is the result of a state legislative decision last July to maintain funding for the Parent-Child Assistance Program (P-CAP) in Seattle and Tacoma, and designate new funds to expand the program to the east side of the state.
The program, formerly known as Birth to 3, is administered by the UW’s nationally known Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit, directed by Dr. Ann Streissguth, one of the team of UW investigators who first identified and named fetal alcohol syndrome.
“We work with mothers who abuse alcohol and drugs during pregnancy and who are not connected effectively with community services,” said Dr. Therese Grant, state director of P-CAP.
“The goal is to help them build healthy, independent family lives and prevent future births of alcohol- and drug-affected children. Our clients are ‘the untouchables,’ those very high-risk mothers who have had little or no prenatal care and who are viewed as hopeless by most community service providers.”
In addition, said Grant, P-CAP has broadened its focus to include women who have a child with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or fetal alcohol effect (FAE), or women who themselves have been diagnosed with FAS/FAE.
Each site has the capacity to serve 90 families; the Seattle and Tacoma sites are currently at full capacity, said Grant.
P-CAP’s intervention and prevention activities are conducted by trained and supervised paraprofessional advocates who provide long-term practical and emotional support to 15 families each, for the child’s first three years — the years most critical in a child’s development.
“Using paraprofessionals is a low-cost alternative to hiring staff with advanced degrees, or doing nothing at all,” said Grant. The cost is about $3,800 per client per year.
The advocates assist mothers in obtaining alcohol and/or drug treatment and staying in recovery, as well as addressing appropriate family planning, housing and domestic violence issues. They connect women with community services and help ensure the safety of children. The goal is to assist the women in developing healthy, independent lives. Importantly, mothers are not asked to leave the program if they relapse, and advocates follow the mother and child for three years regardless of who has custody.
The program has been remarkably successful, according to statistics provided to the legislature. After three years of work with a P-CAP advocate:
* 85 percent of clients had been involved in alcohol/drug treatment programs
* 67 percent had at least one period of six months or more abstaining from alcohol/drugs
* 73 percent were using family planning methods regularly
* 69 percent of children were living with their own families
* 94 percent of children were receiving well-child care and were fully immunized.
Ironically, the Seattle Birth to 3 program almost came to an end in 1995 as its federal funding was running out. A philanthropist read about the program in a Seattle newspaper and provided funds to keep it running for two more years. In 1996 then-Governor Mike Lowry used state emergency funds to open the Tacoma site. Based on positive outcomes, the state legislature then appropriated funds to continue the program. The name was changed to P-CAP because another state program was named Birth to 3.
Grant noted that the program has been singled out by Drug Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based policy research institute, as one of a handful of intervention programs succeeding nationwide. The program has been replicated in Minnesota, Alberta and Manitoba, with funding from their state and provincial governments.
Coordinators at the new sites are Lindy Haunschild and Nancy Echelbarger at the Spokane County Health District; Kay Brisbois at the Spokane Reservation; Jennifer Lane at Grant County Park Prevention and Recovery Center; and Maura Brown and Beth Dannhardt at Triumph Treatment Services in Yakima County.
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For more information contact program director Therese Grant at (206) 543-7155 or granttm@u.washington.edu
