Mississippi Drug & Alcohol Treatment Center parenting program loses federal funding

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Addiction and mental health care services are next on the chopping block as federal agencies continue to see budget cuts and job losses.

The Mississippi Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center was full of packing boxes and tears as those involved with the pregnant and parenting program said goodbye to funding that kept some employed, others sober, and in some cases, in custody of their children.

“This is forcing us to go against our ethics. It’s forcing us to abandon our clients. Our government is forcing us to do that,” says program director Stina Jacobs.

One mother who has spent almost 6 months in the program is Selena Rodriguez. It was this past October that Rodriguez found out she was pregnant.

At the time, she had just been arrested and was in a jail cell.

When the opportunity presented itself, she quickly decided to join the Mississippi Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center’s Pregnant and Parenting Program to get the help she needed. The program began in 2023 with federal grant funding awarded through the state.

As of Thursday, that program lost all federal funds. That change is sending Rodriguez and her 2-month-old out of their temporary home before any aftercare plan can be established.

“I’m worried about leaving here because I don’t have any family, I don’t have barely any support, I don’t even have a car to ride away in. It’s just so stressful for me to try and figure out all of these things in a day,” Rodriguez says.

The loss of grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, or SAMHSA, halts services at this facility.

However, the treatment center is still open to individuals with private insurance. Even then, staff say the typical clientele they see are already underserved and commonly uninsured.

For Ashley Powe, the defunding serves as a one-day-unemployment notice.

“It’s unfair, honestly. To me, unethical. It is the most unfortunate thing I’ve experienced thus far,” Powe says through tears.

Staff say the difference between this program and others is that parents can have up to three children, as old as 5, stay with them.

Before Friday, Powe cared for those children while the parents were in therapy or treatment. She calls this job irreplaceable.

“Going forward honestly for a lot of them, they don’t know what’s to come they don’t have a home to go to or plans,” she explains. “I truly am going to miss this place and those children... those children. I’m just honestly asking for a reverse or something.”

Program director Stina Jacobs says she knew the future of certain resources like this would be unclear after September.

With just a day notice to clean out the office, and discharge clients- the question is, what now?

“That’s a great question. What now? For us, with our individuals, we’re trying to do a Hail Mary,” Jacobs says.

“That makes us go against our ethical guidelines for aftercare planning. As a mental health professional, it violates my code of ethics to just abruptly terminate treatment, and this is being forced upon us.”

Staff say the widespread issue means no similar programs can step in to help. This leaves clients’, employees’, and young children’s futures in limbo.

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