Families Come First

Meta House is involved in Families Come First, a new collaborative pilot project intended to keep children safely with their mothers, who struggle with problems of substance abuse. This alternative response for Child Welfare helps their workers identify the true impact of substance abuse and other complex issues on child safety and allows mothers to get the treatment they need and to become good parents.

Developed and implemented by Meta House, the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, and Milwaukee County Children’s Court, the partnership has grown to include Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division -WIser Choice, the WI Department of Health Services, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Charles D. Jacobus Family Foundation, and the Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation.

Families Come First focuses its efforts on referrals that come to the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare for pregnant women that are using alcohol and/or drugs, and for post-partum mothers whose infants test positive for alcohol or drugs at birth.

A collaborative assessment by the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and Meta House identifies the extent to which substance abuse is contributing to child abuse/neglect. When appropriate, families are offered the opportunity to enter the Meta House Family Treatment Program, starting at the residential level of care, where the mother and her child/ren can be treated together.

The primary goal guiding Families Come First is to safely keep children in their mother’s care, while protecting them from child abuse and neglect.  At the same time, families’ capacity to provide for their children will take place through substance abuse treatment and other services.  The children will also receive the services they need to meet their educational, physical, and emotional needs. The health and well-being of babies born in Milwaukee will be improved and the family unit will be preserved and supported.

"Meta House has been very successful treating mothers at high risk of perpetrating abuse and neglect while keeping their children with them safely," said Dr. Francine Feinberg, Executive Director of Meta House. "Alongside the mother's recovery process, Meta House is working with Child Welfare to ensure the children are protected and their needs are being met."

This initiative is so important because substance abuse and addiction are the primary causes of the dramatic rise in child abuse and neglect; 7 out of 10 cases of child abuse/neglect are caused or exacerbated by substance use. Up to 80% of the parents of children in the child welfare system have substance abuse problems that contribute to child abuse and neglect. And children of parents that abuse alcohol and/or drugs are 3 times more likely to be physically or sexually abused, and 4 times more likely to be neglected.

Meta House has received an average of four referrals each week since the Families Come First Pilot Project began in February of this year. Productive solutions for these families are being found through collaborative assessments and open discussion at meetings that bring all parties together. Approximately three-quarters of the women referred to the project have agreed to voluntarily participate in the pilot and receive a Behavioral Health assessment from Meta House. These assessments are proving to be very helpful for the families and have highlighted family strengths as well as service needs.

After completion of the assessments, the mothers are invited to participate in Family Team Decision Making with the support of the Meta House assessor and the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare social workers. As a result of the collaborative assessments and opportunities offered to the mothers at the Family Team Decision Making meeting, almost all of the mothers are choosing to work toward improving their lives and the lives of their children and enter a treatment program at Meta House.