Mothers with substance abuse issues are generally victims of sexual and domestic violence (97 percent). Often, the underlying reasons for addiction among mothers are untreated post-traumatic stress and/or major depression disorders, precipitated by the injuries of sexual and domestic violence. When these mothers seek out treatment to heal from their addiction, they face an uphill battle. Families struggling with substance abuse issues are offered few opportunities to find treatment and recovery for themselves and their families.

The 1996 Uniform Facility Data Set found that only 6 percent of the treatment programs surveyed included prenatal care and 11.5 percent provided childcare. Only 37 percent of mothers in need of drug treatment who are mothering children under the age of eighteen receive any kind of treatment services.

Parents involved in the child welfare system are especially impacted by the dearth of drug treatment programs available to families: Over two-thirds of parents involved in the child welfare system require substance abuse treatment, yet existing treatment meets less than one third of that need. Only ten percent of child welfare agencies report that they can successfully find substance abuse programs for mothers and their children who require the treatment in a timely manner.

The newly passed Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) mandates that child welfare systems make permanency decisions for any child in foster care for 15 consecutive or 15 of 22 months. Often mothers cannot even gain access to substance abuse treatment programs within that timeframe. Because of the dearth of available treatment for families, many mothers seeking treatment must enter single adult treatment programs and make a "Sophie's Choice" between custody of their children or treatment.

The absence of treatment opportunities for families has also extended out to the criminal justice system. Since 1986, following the introduction of mandatory sentencing to the federal drug laws in the mid 1980s, and its adoption by many states at about the same time, the number of women in prison has risen 400 percent, according to a recent Department of Justice report, "Survey of State Prison Inmates"; for black women, the figure is 800 percent. Most of these women and mothers incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses are suffering with substance abuse issues. In federal prison, for example, 87 percent of the women report being drug addicted. These women and mothers are untreated addicts who are criminalized for their addiction rather than offered treatment and rehabilitation. Mothers struggling with substance abuse are more likely to be afforded access to prison than to comprehensive family treatment.

When it is available, family treatment offers a comprehensive opportunity for a parent to heal from addiction with their children. Families struggling with addiction possess the basic human right to find healing for themselves and their families. Denying mothers and their children the chance for recovery, instead often throwing these mothers into the prisons and the criminal justice system, entrenches low-income families in their poverty and unfairly disintegrates sacred family ties.