KNBN NewsCenter1
February 9, 2021
RAPID CITY, S.D. A program to help pregnant women struggling with substance abuse has been launched by Bethany Christian Services in Rapid City.
Recovering Mothers with Newborns – or ReNew – helps expectant mothers anytime during their pregnancy up to delivery and continues to help them one year after they give birth.
In 2020, South Dakota had over 2,000 children enter the child welfare system; many of them had mothers with substance abuse issues.
The ReNew program aims to keep mothers and children together and provide services to help those struggling with addiction.
Vanessa Kaiser, Program Director for ReNew, said, “We are connecting that mom with all kinds of different community service providers. Housing, transportation, employment, substance use treatment just a variety of things. Then that peer-to-peer support comes in and just provides that, just that support as somebody who has kind of been there and done that.”