Holly Stidham is making a difference in the lives of women and their unborn children.

For the past six months, Stidham has worked with pregnant women in Douglas County who are prone to using drugs and alcohol.

She has been working with the women through the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services’ Health in Pregnancy program, which was founded in July in Lawrence.

The mission of the program is to promote substance-free pregnancies through community resources. SRS officials believe if women receive treatment in a safe and supportive environment, negative outcomes for the mother and baby will decrease.

Any woman identified as pregnant and abusing illicit substances or alcohol, regardless of income, is eligible to receive services for 18 months.

“I believe everybody is in favor of having our children born without the effects of substance abuse,” said Lorrie Bezinque, regional director of SRS. “This can have an impact across our state.”

Following a successful demonstration project in Douglas County, SRS is expanding the Health in Pregnancy program to include Barton, Ellis and Sedgwick counties.

“It’s very important that we intervene early,” SRS Secretary Gary Daniels said at a conference Thursday in Lawrence. “I don’t know if we could intervene any earlier.”

Since the program began in Lawrence, local organizations have referred 12 women to it, seven of whom enrolled. Currently, the program serves four Douglas County women.

Jeanette Collier, coordinator of ECKAN in Lawrence, said she was surprised at the low number of women enrolled in the program.

There are a number of obstacles to getting women involved in the program, SRS officials said.

Among them:

¢ Many women don’t want others to know they have a substance abuse problem when they are pregnant.

Holly Stidham works with pregnant women prone to using drugs and alcohol in a Health in Pregnancy program operated in Lawrence by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. State leaders announced Thursday that they are expanding the pilot program into three other Kansas counties.

¢ Women who already receive assistance fear their aid will be taken away if they admit they use drugs or alcohol.

¢ Women also worry that SRS will intervene or remove their children if they admit a drug or alcohol problem by enrolling in the program.

¢ The program is also fairly new, officials said. Many heath care providers don’t yet know to inform women about the program.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital representatives, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said they were searching for ways to quash those fears.

The program is open to all women, regardless of their income level or whether they already receive state or federal assistance, SRS officials said. The program is voluntary and women are allowed to come and go as they wish.

“It’s hard for people to trust and believe that’s going to happen,” Daniels said. “But that will come with time.”

And with it, Daniels said, the number of women here and elsewhere who seek help will grow.

“We’re potentially talking hundreds of people,” Daniels said.

People looking for information on the program can contact SRS, DCCCA, Bert Nash and other local agencies.

According to Kansas data, 60 women have received state-funded substance abuse treatment while pregnant since 1999, and 27 of those have been in the past three years.

Most of the women struggled with either alcohol or cocaine, data shows. And that only includes women who seek help – there are many more out there, said Jen Brinkerhoff, director of the Regional Prevention Center of East Central Kansas.