Erin Haddock speaks at the Family and Children's Services and George Kaiser Family Foundation's Women in Recovery program graduation Wednesday. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World
Two years ago Erin Haddock was facing 10 years in prison for endeavoring to manufacture meth.
She had been injecting meth for 10 years and weighed a mere 85 pounds when she stopped keeping track.
At her lowest point she was homeless, living in a tent along the Arkansas River.
"I hadn't seen or talked to my daughter in three years. I left her at my parents and never looked back," she said.
Now she talks to her daughter every night on the phone and sees her every chance she gets and has plans to regain custody thanks to Women in Recovery.
"I never thought I'd be capable of being a mother again but with help from the program I've regained those skills," said Haddock, who now works full time as a front desk clerk at the Hyatt Regency. "I've been sober for 26 months. It's the happiest I've ever been in my life. I have my future ahead of me."
Haddock was one of 15 women who celebrated their graduation from the program, an alternative to incarceration for nonviolent female offenders. It includes one year of intensive treatment and provides participants with assistance to successfully return to their families and communities.
Wednesday's graduating class was the largest from the program, which is funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and operated by Family and Children's Services.
Including this class, 52 women have graduated the program. Currently 74 women, who have a total of 191 children, are in the program.
"Today's graduates have redefined themselves as competent and self-sufficient. They have become employees that businesses want to hire and parents that children want to be with and learn to trust," said Mimi Tarrasch, director of Women in Recovery. "This is by far a better option than incarceration, separation and stagnation."
Kristi Nichols, a prior graduate of the program, was on hand to encourage the new graduates.
Thanks to the program, instead of serving a prison sentence for endeavoring to manufacture meth she has been working the front desk at the Hyatt for 17 months. She's attending college, will have her car paid off in February and has her kids every other week.
"I didn't see my kids for two years. Now I have them every other week," she said.
Women in prison and Women in Recovery
- Approximately 67 percent of the more than 2,700 women incarcerated in Oklahoma are imprisoned for nonviolent offenses, primarily drug-related crimes.
- Women incarcerated in Oklahoma have an estimated 7,071 children, with 4,624 younger than 18.
- 64 percent of Women in Recovery participants were sexually abused - more than 45 percent before the age of 18.
- 70 percent of the women in the program were unemployed at the time of their arrest. Now, more than 90 percent of participants and graduates are employed in the Tulsa community.
- Participants range in age from 19 to 52, with the mean age being about 29.
Mike Averill 918-581-8489
mike.averill@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: 15 graduate from drug diversion program
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