SAN ANTONIO -- For 14 years, heroin tore apart Victoria Webster’s life.
- Casa Mia a recovery home where mothers can live with their children
- UT Health San Antonio and the nonprofit Crosspoint created it
- The home provides 24/7 support staff
“It’s taken everything from me - my kids, my family,” Webster said.
The 29-year-old fought to get clean, and recently completed a drug treatment program. Now, she wants to be done with heroin forever.
“It’s not something I look forward to ever going back to,” Webster said. “I don’t want to go back.’
She moved directly from the program into a Casa Mia, a recovery home where mothers can live with their children. She said if she couldn’t move into Casa Mia, she would’ve had to go to a homeless shelter.
“They helped me get on my feet, I’ve got a job now, I can save money,” Webster said.
Webster is currently fighting to regain custody of her 5-month-old daughter and remove her from foster care. Her three older children live with her parents.
She says living with other women who are also moms with relatable backgrounds is helping her navigate this new life.
"It's really empowering actually, like, we help each other out, we ask each other questions, we take advice from each other,” Webster said.
UT Health San Antonio and the nonprofit Crosspoint worked together to create Casa Mia. The first residents moved into the north side home five months ago.
It’s one of just two recovery homes in Texas where recovering moms can live with their children. Casa Mia provides 24/7 support staff.
“Those first months and years of life is where the bond is made, where a great deal of the nurturing and security for the child comes into play,” Joseph Shaffer, program administrator at Crosspoint, said.
On Wednesday, the home celebrated the moms with an early mother’s day dinner.
"So today is really exciting because it's a celebration of their motherhood. As you can imagine, substance abuse problems are highly stigmatized among pregnant and parenting women,” Dr. Lisa Cleveland, a UT health professor who helped found Casa Mia, said.
Casa Mia is currently half-full and has ten spots available for new residents. The home houses a maximum of 20 people, including mothers and children.
Residency is open to qualifying women across the state, not just to San Antonio residents.
To refer pregnant women and mothers, call 210-549-4730. Potential residents may refer themselves.