Residential Treatment for Women with Dependent Children: One Agency's Approach

Abstract

The Salvation Army First Choice Program, located in Fort Worth, Texas, provides comprehensive-as well as gender-specific-treatment for addicted women while providing child care and therapeutic services for children. Specific program attributes (including therapeutic interventions, community linkages, and staffing patterns) are described, and the five-year evaluation initiative, designed to examine relationships between client characteristics, program participation, and client progress is outlined. Findings from initial analyses examining correlates of 90-day dropout suggest a complex interaction among specific problems a woman brings to treatment, her level of dysfunction at treatment entry, how much social support is available to her, and what services she receives.