Women’s recovery services

Services provide comprehensive, women-specific, family-centered services, coordinated case management and recovery coaching for women and their families who are vulnerable and at high risk. While specific services across providers vary, all focus on outreach and engagement, treatment and recovery, ongoing needs assessments, client advocacy, daily living skills, mental and physical health, and parenting.

In order for a woman to be eligible to receive grant-funded services from any of the participating providers, women must be:

• Pregnant or parenting dependent children under age 19
• Enrolled in a substance abuse treatment program, have completed treatment within the past six months, or commit to entering treatment within three months of program enrollment.
• Women who are pregnant and actively using alcohol or drugs are also eligible to receive program services, regardless of treatment status.

• Cumulative Evaluation Results of a 5-year Minnesota Initiative Serving Chemically Dependent Women and their Children: 2011-2016 (PDF)
• Return on Investment in Women’s Recovery Services in Minnesota October 2016 report (PDF)

Between 2011-2016, 12 Women’s Recovery Services grantees served almost 3,000 women and their over 6,000 children.

In October 2016, Wilder Research looked at Women’s Recovery Services for the previous five years. It found that by the end of the program, when compared to when they arrived, the women were:

• Less likely to use substances (26% vs. 61%)
• More likely to be connected to Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous (81% vs. 48%)
• More likely to have housing (89% vs. 78%)
• More likely to be employed (21% vs. 14%)
• Less likely to be involved with child protection (39% vs. 43%)
• More likely to have stable families

Additionally,

• 84 percent of the infants born to women in the program had negative toxicology results at birth and the vast majority was born full-term and had a normal birth weight.
• $5.5 million in program costs reaped $22.8 million in benefits, such as reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations, reduced child welfare costs, reduced crime and increased personal income.