Last year, Crossroads Maine teamed up with Project Linus to help the kids in the Children And Mothers Program (CAMP) feel a little more comfortable when staying with their moms in residential substance abuse treatment.
CAMP is the only program in Maine that provides on-site living arrangements and daycare centers for women and children during treatment for chemical dependency. Moms can bring up to 2 children, ages 6 weeks to 10, while they participate in Crossroads for Women’s residential rehabilitation or halfway house program.
One of the major barriers to women getting treatment for a drug or alcohol problem is not having reliable childcare. Having the ability to bring children with them to treatment helps immensely, and studies have shown that women stay in treatment longer when they have their kids with them. Of course, it’s not always easy for the children to move to a treatment facility for 2 – 6 months and be with other families they don’t know.
Project Linus‘ mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.” Local Maine Project Linus “blanketeers” donate beautiful blankets with different themes and colors. The choice of blankets makes it easy for organizations like Crossroads for Women to personalize each blanket given to a child in CAMP. And that one blanket means a whole lot to a child.
Maine had a particularly long, cold and snowy winter this year. The special blanket that 4-year-old Cayden received, pictured with his mom, helped get him through. When asked what he thought of the blanket he received he responded, “Thank you so much for the blanket, it made me feel really special and it kept me warm all winter long.”
