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When Dana* was 19, she found out she was pregnant and gave birth to her baby. Unfortunately, her son was removed from her care at birth due to her substance use, but Dana worked with a social worker immediately and after five months was referred to Family & Children’s Place’s supervised visitation program.

It was clear that Dana needed help and she was determined to do what she could to regain custody of her son. With help from her Family & Children’s Place Child Welfare Specialist, Dana learned how to form healthy, nurturing attachments with her son along with parenting, addiction and time management skills.

Dana and her team had regular Family Team Meetings to set goals that would ultimately lead to unsupervised visits. Each week, Family & Children’s Place’s Child Welfare Specialist provided Dana with positive feedback and constructive criticism to ensure she continued down the path of regaining custody of her son. Dana received assistance with housing, transportation, aftercare and scheduling to set her up for success as an adult and as a mother.

Over the course of nine months, Dana had over 40 visits with her son and worked through struggles, sorrow and ultimately success. Thanks to Dana’s hard work and a strong support system, she was able to not only reach her goal of unsupervised visits, but her son was also able to return home for supervised custody.

Dana has been sober for over a year and is awaiting a court date that could grant her full custody. Family & Children’s Place was a steppingstone for Dana as she changed her life and the life of her son. The supervised visitation program is a support system and community tool to ensure happy, healthy children and families free from abuse!