WOMEN’S TREATMENT CENTER

There’s a place on Chicago’s Near West Side, where drug-addicted mothers can try to get clean and sober while living with their children. The Women’s Treatment Center opened in 1990 with the hope that, with their children present, mothers could break their addictions while also developing parenting skills and strengthening their families. Back then, most of the women came in addicted to crack cocaine. Now, they’re more likely to abuse heroin.
I reported and produced this story for the Social Justice News Nexus at Northwestern University, with WBEZ’s Richard Steele. We had help from Will Houp and Caroline Cataldo. The piece aired on WBEZ as well as on Vocalo’s Barber Shop Show.

︎︎︎ Listen here