Globe and Mail: How family ties help moms unbind from addiction

As the Globe and Mail reports: 

A University of Manitoba study, published this fall in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, showed women tended to have higher rates of mental illness and substance use disorder diagnoses after their children were taken into care.

Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, lead author of the study, say there’s a need for more preventative measures to support women before they’re deemed unable to take care of their children. And in cases where it’s necessary for children to be taken into care, women need help to ensure the separation doesn’t lead to further deterioration of their health and well-being, since that could make it harder for them to regain custody.

“There’s a lot of trauma associated with losing custody of a child,” she says.