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Parent Child Assistance Program (PCAP)
Core Function: Clinical Services
The Parent-Child Assistance Program (PCAP) is a home visitation intervention program that works with women who abuse alcohol or drugs during pregnancy, with the aim of preventing future alcohol- and drugexposed births among these mothers. PCAP supports mothers in achieving this goal by helping them complete substance abuse treatment and stay in recovery and by motivating them to choose effective family planning methods.
The goals of the program are to (1) assist mothers in obtaining treatment, maintaining recovery, and resolving the complex problems associated with their substance abuse; (2) guarantee that the children are in a safe environment and receiving appropriate health care; (3) effectively link families with community resources; and (4) demonstrate successful strategies for working with this population to prevent the risk of future drug- and alcohol-affected children.
Originally a federal research demonstration grant from 1991 to 1995, PCAP is now funded by the Washington State Legislature with ten sites statewide in King (2 sites), Pierce, Yakima, Grant, Spokane, Cowlitz, Skagit, Clallam, and Kitsap counties. State funding has allowed the program to broaden its focus to include women who have a child with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The program is coordinated by a training and evaluation component at the UW School of Medicine's Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.
PCAP provides trained and supervised case managers to work with a caseload of 16 mothers and their families for three years, beginning with the birth of the child. The case managers offer regular home visitation and link women and their families with a comprehensive array of existing community resources to address health care, housing, child custody, and other issues. Case managers help mothers identify personal goals and the steps necessary to achieve them and monitor progress, facilitate case conferencing and integrated service delivery among providers, transport clients and children to important appointments, and work actively with the extended family.
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