Nothing is Impossible
One mistake after another led a single mother to lose her three children.
At the age of 28, Anne fractured her tailbone in a bike accident. While recovering, her first pain medication wasn’t working, so her doctor gave her a different prescription.
Unfortunately, this began Anne’s poor choice to mask the pain she thought she had. When her doctor stopped the prescription, Anne found a “cheaper” way to deal with the pain. It began with heroin in a pill form, which led to smoking the drug and then injections. Initially, Anne thought she was in pain and then it turned into a normal desire to want to not feel anything.
During this time, her children disappeared from her life, as CPS got involved and placed her son and daughter in foster care.
Anne later got pregnant. When she was four months along, and dealing with this vicious cycle of drug abuse, she awoke one day and cried out for help. She didn’t want her baby to be addicted to drugs. Anne took the brave step and checked herself into treatment.
However, it wasn’t easy, as she could never remain in treatment for more than 90 days. She was in-and-out of treatment - giving birth to a girl while in treatment. Following the birth, Anne and her baby moved in with her grandmother. However, it was there that CPS intervened again and told Anne that she could only keep the newborn if she re-entered treatment
The day before checking herself in, a friend visited and they both took drugs. Upon entering treatment, Anne had a positive hit on her UA, which led CPS to taking the child away. Anne became angry with the treatment center and angry at herself. She left treatment again, only to find herself back in her old ways. At this point, she had no children, no place to live and in a destructive relationship with a man who was abusive and always drugging her against her will.
Seeing her life spinning further out-of-control, Anne contacted her case manager, who got her on a bus and back in treatment. This time, she remained until she graduated in mid-January of this year. Anne, now 34, has now been clean for nearly 11 months.
The young mother recently relocated from the westside of Washington to Spokane, received her son back and is in a stable environment while staying at The Salvation Army’s Stepping Stones Phase One program, where she is gaining life-coping skills from the Army staff. Anne and her son are also seeking counseling to strengthen their relationship.
Anne’s goal is to gain employment, get in to permanent housing, reclaim her medical assistant license and get her 14-month old daughter back. Meanwhile, her other daughter has been adopted by Anne’s sister and resides in another state. Staff from The Salvation Army are encouraged and excited by her growth.
If not for the generous donors, The Salvation Army would not have been able to assist this young family.
Please consider giving a monetary donation to the Stepping Stones program.