Two Dundee mums have told how they broke years of drug addiction while getting help to keep their young children close in a life-changing recovery centre in the city.
The women, Natasha Monaghan and Steph Fox, had battled with drugs including heroin.
They got the help they needed at Aberlour Mother and Child Recovery Home, which opened in Dundee at the end of last year.
Staff at the centre support women through recovery with children up to five years of age.
It’s designed to encourage drug users to seek help without the real fear of losing their child to care elsewhere.
Natasha’s story
Natasha Monaghan, 35, had been addicted to drugs since she was 13 and started injecting heroin as young as 15.
When she found out last year she was pregnant with her daughter, she was determined to get clean.
She wouldn’t have been able to do it if she had her 30-day-old daughter Mirren taken away from her.
Ms Monaghan, originally from Arbroath, said too many people she knows took drugs.
Speaking to The Courier, she said: “I have been addicted to drugs for most of my life.
“I was young and with my mates and we started recreationally taking highs but after so many years, what goes up must come down.
“But by then I was so far into it and I realised I was stuck.”
She said she “hated” doing heroin and resisted peer pressure to inject it for two years before giving in.
She had to give up another daughter 10 years ago and said she didn’t want to make the same mistake.
That is when her support worker suggested she move into the new mother and child home – created in a neighbourhood she used to go to score drugs – so she could recover from her addiction while also being a parent to baby Mirren.
She moved in on December 7 last year and has not taken drugs since.
Ms Monaghan said: “If I had left hospital without her, I would have caved back into drugs.
“I couldn’t go and live in the same estate with the same dealers and the same users.
“My family home is only 15 minutes away, which is good to know, but I needed to know I was somewhere safe and relaxing where there were no drugs.
“Now I have a normal mother-daughter relationship, it is how it should be.
“And I couldn’t do that where I was.”
Steph’s story
Steph Fox, 31, made a promise to get clean after her mum died.
She had turned to drugs when an ex partner was using them.
“I started using crack cocaine at first and then moved onto heroin,” she said.
“I was injecting at least four to five times a day, I would inject in my groin, and I ended up living on the streets.”
She moved from her home in Portsmouth after her mum died to be nearer to her dad who lives in Dundee.
But she was still trying to get a hold of drugs on her paydays.
When daughter Moya was born last year she was put into foster care – which led Ms Fox to turn back to drugs.
She said: “When I was in hospital I had the motivation because Moya was there with me.
“But then she was taken off me and put in foster care.
“When my social worker dropped me off at my house, I went straight off to get drugs because I didn’t have her with me.
“I was so depressed and miserable without her.”
She came to the mother and child house on December 5, and hasn’t had drugs since.
Ms Fox said: “I can now do the things with Maya that I used to do with my mum, and I am so glad to have the opportunity to do that.
“It is great to be living with the other mums too because we have things in common, we can relate to each other and speak to each other.”
Hope for reducing drug deaths
The mother and baby house is located in Cowan Grove and can house up to four women and their children under the age of five.
Each mother is given their own en-suite bedroom and they will have everything they need to look after their child – including a play room and cots in the bedroom.
Scottish Government drugs policy minister Angela Constance visited the home on Wednesday to officially open the centre.
“Keeping mothers and their children together can enhance the effectiveness of treatment and lessen any harmful impact on children,” she said.
SallyAnn Kelly, chief executive of Aberlour, said: “Too many women with these issues were previously refusing to engage with support agencies for fear of their children being removed and taken into care.
“The house will help to improve outcomes for these women and children, reduce deaths of mothers with problem drug use, avoid family breakdown and increase the likelihood of children ebing cared for by their parents.”
