Most addiction treatment centers in Indianapolis ask a mother to leave her children somewhere else while she gets care.
A Volunteers of America program in the city does not, and that single design choice is why its annual baby shower is a story about treatment rather than a story about party supplies.
Fresh Start Connect serves pregnant and postpartum women with a history of substance use. Mothers and children stay together in residential recovery housing for the duration of treatment.
This month the program and Epiphany Lutheran Church in Westfield, Indiana held their fourth annual baby shower for the women enrolled in it, as reported by WTHR in Indianapolis.
What Keeping Families Together Actually Requires
Separation is one of the most cited reasons mothers refuse or leave residential treatment, and it is not irrational.
Entering a program can mean a custody arrangement, a relative taking the children, or child welfare involvement, and the calculation many mothers make is that treatment costs more than it returns.
Fresh Start Connect removes that calculation. It sits inside Volunteers of America’s broader Fresh Start Recovery program, which operates locations in Indianapolis, Columbus, and Evansville, with three residential recovery houses in Indiana and referrals accepted statewide.
According to the organization, the residential program meets American Society of Addiction Medicine level 3.5 criteria, meaning clinically managed high intensity residential care, and holds accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
Practical support runs alongside the clinical work. Community health nurse supervisor Ashley Bearry described the program supplying diapers and wipes along with education and resources, both during a mother’s stay and after she returns to her community.
Why a Baby Shower Belongs in a Treatment Story
Bearry pointed to something providers see constantly. Mothers with a substance use problem often do not get celebrated, and a pregnancy that would be welcomed in another family gets met with judgment instead.
That has clinical weight. Shame and fear of being treated differently keep pregnant women out of prenatal care and out of treatment, which is precisely when risk to both mother and infant peaks.
Community events that treat a pregnancy as good news do something no protocol can. Pastor Jeremy Mills said the partnership extends past the annual shower, with donations and visits through the year.
Why Indiana Has Focused on This Population
Volunteers of America cites state data showing substance use disorder was the most common contributing factor in Indiana maternal deaths, likely contributing to more than half of all pregnancy associated maternal deaths in 2018.
The organization also notes that parental substance use accounts for a large share of Indiana children removed from homes and placed in foster care.
Those two figures explain the program design. Keeping a mother in treatment and a family intact addresses both at once.
Understanding Substance Use in Pregnancy and After Birth
The postpartum period is a high risk window. Sleep loss, pain, isolation, and untreated depression or anxiety arrive together, and a woman who stopped using during pregnancy can face the strongest pressure after delivery, when clinical contact usually drops off.
Signs worth attention in a new mother include withdrawing from family and friends, missing pediatric or postpartum appointments, changes in sleep or appetite beyond what a newborn explains, unexplained money problems, and mood changes that are severe or do not lift. None of these proves anything alone. Together they are a reason to ask, gently and directly.
For pregnant women, stopping opioids abruptly is not the safe option. Medications for opioid use disorder, meaning buprenorphine or methadone, are the standard of care in pregnancy because untreated withdrawal carries risk to the pregnancy. Any program a pregnant woman considers should be able to explain how it handles this.
Finding Addiction Treatment in Indianapolis and Across Indiana
Programs that keep mothers and children together are limited in number, so ask about it specifically rather than assuming.
- Search addiction treatment centers in Indianapolis and filter for programs serving pregnant and postpartum women
- Ask whether a program accepts Indiana Medicaid and whether it takes referrals from outside the county
- Ask directly whether children can stay with you during treatment, and up to what age
- Ask whether medications for opioid use disorder are available during pregnancy
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