It isn’t someone’s holiday greeting card photo – but it could be.

These children, less than one year old, were once residents of a drug rehabilitation center. And if not for the Letty Owings Center, they would be at risk for repeating their mothers’ cycles of addiction and entering the foster care system. Their futures would be bleak; their burden on Oregon taxpayers increased.

When addicted mothers and pregnant women need help, their recovery is more complex– babies, toddlers and the unborn must also be protected and cared for. Women need a safe place to live with their children.

At Letty Owings, mothers are treated for drug addiction and alcoholism. They also begin learning life skills such as budgeting, cooking, meal planning, laundry, communication, and very importantly, parenting – things as simple as how often a child needs to eat, sleep and bathe. Surrounded by role models, the women get a vision of what life can be and the tools to help take them there.

Their children become part of a larger community by attending off-site daycare with youngsters from a wide range of income levels and family backgrounds. The women become part of the larger community when they attend community recovery support groups.

Individual and family counseling helps mothers and children learn to problem solve and communicate – to lay a foundation for living independently. For the first time in their lives, the women gain confidence that they can do something right – and that feeling of accomplishment inspires additional successes.

The joy of seeing a young mother clean, sober, hopeful and able to reunite with her other children who have been placed in foster care is priceless. The savings to Oregon are incalculable.

How It Began

The Letty Owings Center was a first of its kind when Nancy Anderson - deeply angry because poor women like her sister had to give up their children to get treatment - established a house for mothers and babies with the help of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO). Named for the then EMO Board chair, Letty Owings, the Center first opened its doors to eight women and ten children in 1989.

Today up to 50 women and their children find a warm, caring, safe home in which to right their lives and begin anew

Impact

• Since inception, 214 babies have been born drug free and 1,245 families have received services
• 9 in 10 women who remain at the Center beyond the first two weeks go on to ‘graduate’
• 18 years of foster care costs Oregon taxpayers $234,000. One year at Letty Owings costs $30,000, thus saving the state $200,000 with this one-time investment

News

• Click here for most recent Letty Owings Center newsletter.