Synopsis

Moms Living Clean chronicles three years in the lives of six women in a women and children’s residential treatment center in San Rafael, California. The drug of choice for all of these women is methamphetamine.  Filmed on location, Moms Living Clean traces the women’s progress through the six month residential program, the transitional housing phase where they can live for two years and as they re-enter the community.  The film follows them as they undergo dramatic transformation.  The women work to stay clean, set goals, learn parenting skills and become self-sufficient.  Interwoven with these personal stories are drug policies that impact pregnant and parenting women.  We meet:

Rachel, 22, is in the kitchen talking about how she first tried drugs when her father gave them to her when she was 11.  As a teenager, her home was a haven for drug addicts run by her uncle, where they watched her all the time.  Later, we see her with her two young daughters in high chairs giving them lunch.  The oldest is one-and-a-half years old and has attention problems.  Her youngest is ten months.  She entered the program when Child Protective Services became involved when she was homeless after leaving her abusive boyfriend.


Lisa S., 41, sits by a window in the main room of her unit with her 2 month old daughter peacefully asleep in her lap. She has spent seven of the past nine years in and out of prison for drug sales, forgery and weapons charges. She discovered she was pregnant when she was arrested for violating her parole by testing positive for drugs. She gave birth to her clean baby daughter while living at the residential treatment center.

Leslie, 31, sits in the common area of her unit the white kitchen behind her. As she reveals what brought her to Center Point, she washes, dries and puts away the last of the lunch dishes. She left Hawaii, where she lived for seven years, after pressing charges against her violent boyfriend. She was doing online prostitution before coming to the residential program. Her three-and-a-half year old half-Native Hawaiian daughter is currently living with her parents. Born in California, Leslie was adopted at birth.


Julia, 24, spoon-feeds her five month old son perched in a car seat on the kitchen table, over her emotional recollection of how she almost lost him when he tested ‘tox positive’ for marijuana.  Her primary drug of choice is methamphetamine. She is very grateful to the people at Center Point for helping her regain physical custody of her son.  She must now follow a case plan for legal custody.  Her aunt raised her, because her mother had a drug problem.  She doesn’t want the same thing to happen to her son.

Krista, 27, sits on the burgundy bed spread with the door open to the hallway behind her. She became hooked on methamphetamine on her 19th birthday. Her uncle gave it to her, so they could finish painting her grandmother’s house. She vacuums the living area by the sliding glass door, as she talks about her eight-year-old daughter who lives with her father, and that she entered the residential center after her newborn son tested positive for drugs. She is counting the days to when she can have her son with her once again.


Lisa R., 38, returned to the residential treatment center, when she relapsed after three years of staying clean. Her seven-and-a-half year old daughter lives with her father.  Her three-and-a-half year old daughter lives with her at the residence. Lisa was diagnosed with ADD and told herself she needed drugs to get things done. For her, meth was "love at first feel."

Over the course of three years, we witness the women develop a feeling of pride, integrity, empathy, anger management skills and confidence. Moms Living Clean combats the social stigma that mothers on drugs are lost to society forever by illuminating how a supportive constructive environment can help women overcome life’s adversities to claim their dignity and self-worth.  Themes explored in the film are substance abuse, domestic violence, self-empowerment, motherhood and family.

As we learn about updates on the six women, Dr. Taylor gives us her definition of success:

"I have a 100% success rate, because as long as they’re with me, they’re clean, they’re living a happy life and they are with their children. And that is success. I equate long term success with family reunification and the self-esteem enhancement that we’re able to provide for our women, who perhaps have never worked in their lives, perhaps are third generation recipients of public benefits. We attribute that to instilling a value system… that starts with hope and has a lot of love attached to it. We believe that there is goodness in our clients when they don’t believe they’re worth too much. And since we believe in them, they begin to slowly believe in themselves. And when they believe in themselves there is empowerment."

Please contact us at: 415.564.3691 or momslivingclean@att.net if you or your group would like to host a fundraising screening.

 

(c) 2009 Sheila Ganz