Voices of Families: Insights from Ohio Listening Sessions on Perinatal Substance Use
Safe Babies, a program of ZERO TO THREE™, conducted listening sessions with families across Ohio to better understand the lived experiences of parents navigating perinatal substance use disorder. Led by parent leaders with lived expertise, these sessions centered the voices of mothers and fathers who shared their experiences with prenatal and health care services, treatment and recovery supports, peer support, housing and economic stability, mental health and trauma, and involvement with child welfare and the legal system. Their insights highlight both the resilience of families and the systemic barriers that can either hinder or support recovery and family stability.
Key Findings:
1. Healthcare (Including Prenatal Care)
Parents described fear and stigma in prenatal and hospital settings, leading some to delay or avoid care.
Recommendations include strengthening family-centered, trauma-informed medical practices, ensuring informed consent for drug testing, and expanding access to MOUD and maternal mental health supports.
2. Treatment and Recovery Supports
Access to treatment is inconsistent, with long waitlists and limited family-centered programs that allow parents and children to remain together.
Recommendations include expanding residential treatment that keeps families together, prioritizing pregnant and parenting families for timely access to care, and leveraging sustainable funding to increase treatment capacity.
3. Peer Support
Peer support was described as transformative but unevenly available.
Recommendations include expanding and sustainably funding peer support roles, integrating peers into healthcare and court settings, and increasing certification and reimbursement pathways.
4. Child Welfare and Legal Practice
Parents reported inconsistent policies, limited transparency, and fear of newborn removal, which discouraged treatment-seeking.
Recommendations include preventing automatic newborn removal when parents are engaged in treatment, standardizing practices across counties, and prioritizing family preservation and clear communication when safe.
5. Housing and Economic Stability
Housing was identified as the largest barrier to recovery, with long waitlists and limited affordable options.
Recommendations include reducing wait times for public housing, expanding family-centered recovery housing options, and strengthening access to benefits, transportation, and employment supports.
6. Mental Health and Trauma
Parents linked substance use to trauma histories and described limited access to mental health services.
Recommendations include integrating maternal mental health screening into prenatal and pediatric care, expanding trauma-informed services, and reducing wait times for treatment.
7. Community Outreach
Many families were unaware of available services, particularly in rural communities.
Recommendations include increasing community-based outreach, distributing accessible resource materials, and launching stigma-reduction efforts that connect families to support earlier.
Overall Recommendations
By centering family voices in policy and program design, Ohio can create a recovery-oriented system that supports both parents and children in achieving long-term stability and health.
Parents called for:
- Family-centered healthcare practices
- Trauma-informed prenatal and postpartum care
- Expanded MOUD access
- Sustainable funding for peer support
- Housing stabilization strategies
- Changes to child welfare policies that discourage treatment-seeking
ZERO TO THREE deeply appreciates Ballmer Group for its generous support of our work to scale the Safe Babies approach. We’d like to especially thank Connie Ballmer for her vision and commitment to transforming the child welfare system so that all babies thrive. Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities.
