L.A. CADA’s Family Foundations Program Closed

This Article is from the Whittier Daily News 

Letters to editor: Closing down the FFP

Posted: 11/01/2011 08:52:51 PM PDT

The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation is closing an alternative sentencing program in Santa Fe Springs for women with children known as FFP. This program is operated by the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The program has been very successful and has been running for the past 11 years. The women have had the extra motivation to develop a sober-oriented lifestyle by having their children and an excellent treatment staff to assist them. The women in the program have been very involved through developing a choreographed dance to celebrate their growth, through developing place settings for fundraisers, through writing stories about their experience, and for one resident a book is pending. Without the program, future women in a similar situation – pregnant or with a young child – will experience the corrections part without the rehabilitation. A rehabilitated woman with a sober lifestyle positively affects a minimum of five others in her social circle. Prison alone does not result in rehabilitation. To close this program and thus keep women who could be rehabilitated warehoused in uninspiring, depressing conditions just does not make sense.

Mark Scott
Executive Director
H.O.W. House
Whittier