Phoenix Futures, who provide residential rehabilitation for vulnerable women who otherwise might be imprisoned, share the profoundly positive impact of their work:
Sam was 21 and 31 weeks pregnant when she was remanded into custody for shoplifting. She was facing a prison sentence that would have meant giving birth behind bars.
As her pregnancy progressed, her fear of harming her baby grew. She had struggled to stabilise her substance use in the community and felt too ashamed and frightened to fully ask for help. In desperation, she shoplifted deliberately so she would be sent back to prison. For her, custody felt like the only way to stop using and protect her unborn child.
Luckily Sam met with a judge that (sic) was informed and compassionate and offered her a suspended sentence on the condition that she enter treatment. Agencies worked quickly together and within 48 hours of referral, Sam was assessed from custody. A residential placement was offered.
She arrived believing she would not be allowed to keep her baby.
Instead, with coordinated support from probation, social care, maternity services and Phoenix Future’s residential team, she stabilised. She engaged in antenatal care, gave birth in hospital and returned to Phoenix Future’s family service with her daughter.
Residential rehabilitation responds to the realities of women’s lived experiences, including motherhood, coercion, substance abuse and poverty. Treatment is structured, intensive, and trauma-informed, contributing to better outcomes for both women and their children.
Phoenix Futures recommend that women in need of residential rehabilitation be identified earlier – with funding options made clearer and more accessible. Referral routes between courts, prisons, probation and treatment providers should be transparent and straightforward.
Ultimately, recovery cannot end at discharge. Long-term aftercare planning must be incorporated for vulnerable women and should prevent harm rather than simply respond to it.
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