Dr. Dale Klatzker is the CEO and president of Gaudenzia Addiction Treatment & Recovery Services.
Even as Sarah Thompson gave birth, xylazine was eating the flesh off her arms.
The open wounds put her at risk of amputation and prevented her from holding her newborn — a daughter that the authorities were threatening to take from her. All of this was due to her addiction to xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that is often mixed with opioids and has become a scourge throughout our region.
Crystal Cannon wrestled with heroin and marijuana for more than six years, due to a family trauma. Then, in the midst of her addiction, she found out she was pregnant. With the threat of incarceration and lack of any other support, she desperately wanted a chance at recovery.
Both women had hit rock bottom. Then, they found Gaudenzia Addiction Treatment & Recovery Services’ Claymont Center for Pregnant and Parenting Women, Delaware’s only substance use disorder treatment center for women who are pregnant or parenting their young children.
Until the Claymont Center opened just over a year ago, Sarah and Crystal, and others like them, faced a stark choice: Seek lifesaving treatment and risk losing their children or fight their addiction alone. There simply are no other options in Delaware to participate in treatment, while keeping their families together.
Consider these numbers from recent years:
Gaudenzia is dedicated to providing hope and resources to these women. Inside the walls of the Claymont Center, mothers and their children can remain together, receiving the treatment — and the home — that they and their children need to stay together and thrive as a family.
Since opening in summer 2022, the Claymont Center has provided evidenced-based, trauma- and culture-informed care to 40 women and 22 children. Before Claymont opened, these women and their children would likely have been lost to an unforgiving system that too often results in families being ripped apart.
The Claymont Center is the result of a close partnership between Gaudenzia, the region’s largest nonprofit treatment provider for people with substance use disorder, and the state of Delaware. The project was championed by Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, and the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Support from Sen. Sarah McBride, D-Wilmington, and Reps. Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear; Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle; and Larry Lambert, D-Claymont, was critical in garnering the two years of funding needed to launch.
Asking women to choose between treatment or keeping their children is a nearly impossible decision that can cause lasting generational damage. At the Claymont Center, we start with the proposition that keeping mothers and their children together is one of the most effective ways of breaking the cycle of addiction. It’s an effort that is working — and needs to continue.
Just ask Sarah Thompson. She was one of the first people referred to Claymont in July 2022. Fourteen months later, she is enrolled in college courses and has just completed her stay at the Claymont Center. Plus, she is reunified with her 15-month-old daughter.
“It’s been a crazy journey,” Sarah says. “I just want to tell others, ‘Never give up.’ I’ve been in addiction for 15 years, but that addiction isn’t the end. I’ve learned that you deserve a good life, and you can recover with strong support.”
Cannon also entered Claymont in July 2022, while on probation. One of the first things she experienced was a baby shower. Now, she is reunited with her daughter, who turned 1 in August. She obtained her General Educational Development diploma while completing treatment, has saved enough money to purchase a car and recently secured employment.
“I encourage others in a similar situation to give it a try — you’re worth it,” she says. “You and your children deserve a chance. If you want it bad enough, you can do it.”
Sarah and Crystal embody what can happen with evidence-based substance use disorder treatment, health services, life skills and other resources focused on the journey of recovery. They are now prepared to rebuild their lives — and to do it with their children under their care. We believe that by working together with the state of Delaware and other partners, we can keep families together and break the cycle of addiction now and for future generations.
More information on The Claymont Center for Pregnant and Parenting Women can be found at gaudenzia.org. If you or someone you know needs treatment for substance use disorder, please call 833-976-4357.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
