Wine Country Times

December marks nine months since COVID-19 lockdowns started, and Women’s Recovery Services (WRS) already is witnessing a surprise.

“Many people predicted there would be a lot more babies as a result of shelter-in-place orders,” WRS Executive Director Linda Carlson said. “I have six newborns, two on the way and a resident that’s in the hospital who delivered this week.”

WRS provides a 120-day residential substance dependence treatment program primarily for pregnant and parenting women who have infants and children. There is also an eight-month after-care program and up to two years in a transitional sober home.

“We are definitely seeing a baby boom, which is really good for us because if the women are admitted before they give birth, there's less chance that their babies will be removed into foster care because they'll have a clean and sober baby and they will be clean and sober themselves,” Carlson told Wine Country Times.

WRS recently completed a $1 million expansion of its facilities that enables the treatment center to comfortably accommodate up to 20 mothers and 12 children instead of the usual 12 to 14 women.

“Once we received the funding from our donors, we worked with a contractor to complete the improvements we really wanted,” Carlson said in an interview. “On Thanksgiving we moved in to the yellow house and had Thanksgiving dinner in our brand new gorgeous kitchen. One grant from a foundation was designated just to buy all new kitchen equipment. Funding from another donor created a living room and family room for the women.”

While the pandemic has resulted in a baby boom at WRS, it also requires stringent protocols.

“To keep everybody safe, we can't have children and family members going back and forth, which has impacted our perinatal program and our overarching goal of reunifying women with their children,” Carlson added. “That’s definitely moving a lot slower because of the pandemic.”

As of Dec. 17, the state of California has 1,671,081 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, resulting in 21,481 deaths, according to the state COVID-19 dashboard. Deaths increased 1.4% from the prior day total of 21,188.

“We've had to implement a tremendous amount of protocols, such as before women come in and when they leave, to make sure that we are COVID free,” Carlson said. “We have not had any incidents of anyone being sick.”

In the new year, WRS hopes having more space and more ability to serve residents in a comfortable environment will improve outcomes. 

According to Carlson, women who complete 90 to 120 days of treatment experience better results in the long run because they receive greater care.

“We want women to stay longer, not leave early and really make the commitment to being clean and sober and being a better parent and fully utilizing all we have to offer,” she said.