A program to aid pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders is being led by Erin Maher, Ph.D., senior associate director for DISC and associate professor of sociology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.
The Parent‐Child Assistance Program (PCAP), which originated at the University Washington, is an evidence‐informed, home visitation and case management program to help women who are pregnant or up to 24 months postpartum, who used alcohol or drugs during pregnancy, or who have a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and are currently abusing alcohol and are in their childbearing years.
"Oklahoma has high rates of substance use disorders and high rates of incarcerated women for drug-related crimes. We also have high numbers of children in foster care due to parental substance use disorders,” Maher said. “That’s why I thought a program like this would be very impactful here to improve the well-being of children and families.”
The PCAP program helps mothers obtain treatment and stay in recovery, links mothers to community resources that will help them build and maintain healthy, independent family lives for themselves and their children, and helps prevent future drug and alcohol use during pregnancy.
“We’re providing the long-term support that is missing in many other programs,” Heather Lepper-Pappan, PCAP graduate research assistant, said. “We’re also focusing on harm reduction, so if a mother relapses, we will continue to provide support services. That’s really important.”
Another goal of the PCAP program is to reduce the long-term costs associated with at-risk mothers and children in Oklahoma.
“Our participants are engaged with many different government agencies, from the foster care system to the Department of Corrections to Medicaid,” Deven Carlson, Ph.D., PCAP cost benefit analysis lead and Presidential Research Professor in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, said. “This program reduces the need for those interactions. It keeps kids out of foster care and likely raises mothers’ incomes over the long term — which will avoid future interactions with social support and social welfare systems that cost the state of Oklahoma money.”
To achieve the program’s objectives, Maher’s team uses data from a variety of sources. This data includes qualitative and quantitative information on adverse child experiences, social support, parenting practices, criminal justice involvement, mental health and more.
“We’re collecting data directly from the mothers via surveys and interviews, and hope to use large administrative databases stored and maintained by Oklahoma state agencies,” Carlson said.
Unlike the evaluation of the PCAP program in Washington, the OU evaluation uses a control group of mothers and children. This group is still directed toward community resources but does not receive case management assistance from the PCAP team.
"We will compare outcomes between these two groups during their three years of participation in our program,” Maher said. "This will allow us to confidently state that the positive outcomes in our data are directly related to the PCAP intervention.”
In the long term, the team will produce a sustainability plan for the program and hopes the evaluation will lead to the capability to draw down federal funds for home visits and child welfare prevention programs to support state implementation.
“Once we have our evaluation and cost-savings results, we hope to pursue additional funding for this project similar to what is happening in Washington, where about 40% of the program’s costs are covered by Medicaid,” Maher said.
The team will also develop a national symposium in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health on alternatives to incarceration for pregnant women with substance use disorders and hopes to promote parental involvement in significant advocacy roles.
"The foster care community frequently says, ‘Nothing about us without us.’ With that in mind, we want to help parents get onto boards of directors and connect them with policymakers to tell their story and make a case for the sustainability of this program,” Maher said.
This project is made possible thanks to a collaborative effort of both public and private partners working to help vulnerable women and children in Oklahoma.
“In addition to community and state agency support, our program has received in-kind funding from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships and the Data Institute for Societal Challenges, as well as assistance from the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences,” Maher said. “Everyone has been so supportive of this work because of its impact on our community. For that, I'm incredibly grateful.”
To learn more about the Parent-Child Assistance Program at OU or to make a referral to the program, visit their website https://www.ou.edu/pcap or watch their YouTube video or 2News video.
