Residential Treatment Where Mothers and Infants Stay Together
A Family-Centered Model in a Renovated Historic House
The Grove on Patterson provides residential substance use treatment for pregnant and parenting women and their infants, using opioid settlement funding alongside Medicaid and private support to help mothers remain in care with their babies.
The Challenge They Were Addressing
Roanoke lost a residential treatment option for pregnant women when Bethany Hall closed in November 2022 after pandemic-related challenges. Women who required substance use treatment during pregnancy or after delivery needed a place where they could receive care and remain with their infants. Dr. Kimberly Simcox, a Carilion obstetrician-gynecologist who provides medication-assisted treatment, began convening community partners in spring 2023 to restore that service.
The partners identified housing, clinical care, and ongoing operating support as separate responsibilities. A board member later brought opioid settlement funding to the group's attention, and the partners pursued it alongside private contributions and Medicaid reimbursement.
Anderson Treatment Center reports that the Aetna Foundation contributed $400,000 to Restoration Housing in December 2023 to purchase the facility. Settlement funding in 2024, along with private donations, paid for renovation, including the sprinklers and fire-safety systems that residential treatment requires. The Grove opened to residents on May 5, 2025, approximately 2 years after community planning began.
What They Built
The Grove is a 16-bed residential treatment program in a renovated historic house built in the early 1900s. It can accommodate up to 16 women and 16 infants. Most residents share a bedroom with one other woman, and one bedroom accommodates four women. Mothers generally enter while pregnant or with an infant no older than 3 months.
Anderson Treatment Center manages daily operations and clinical services under contract with The Twelve Foundation. The foundation oversees the project and contracts with the treatment and housing partners. Executive Director Bethny Barrett, the foundation's only employee, handles fundraising, marketing, and organizational responsibilities. Residential staff have living or lived experience and training in the peer role, and a team lead with living or lived experience directs the residential program.
Residents receive American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Level 3.1 residential care throughout their stay. Alongside residential care, they attend ASAM Level 2.5 partial hospitalization, four hours a day and five days a week, for approximately 6 weeks, followed by about 10 weeks of intensive outpatient treatment. Group sessions take place at the house, and each woman has an individual counselor. The program also works with therapists trained in perinatal mental health. Length of stay depends on each woman's needs. The program describes a stay of about 6 months.
Mothers and infants participate together in most treatment activities. During a weekly psychodrama group that addresses trauma, staff and trained baby-rocking volunteers care for the infants separately. Some individual therapy occurs off-site, although clinicians also travel to the house. Referrals come from medical providers, social services, criminal justice settings, families, community organizations, and women seeking care for themselves.
Who You Need at the Table
What made a willing partner essential vs. optional?
Three organizations divide the operating work. Restoration Housing handled the building, Anderson Treatment Center supplied clinical and daily operating services, and The Twelve Foundation managed oversight and fundraising. Medical providers connected pregnant women to the program and continued their care. A county considering replication would need each of these functions covered, whether through existing organizations or new agreements.
Medicaid reimbursement and settlement support pay for different parts of the same stay. Anderson Treatment Center bills Medicaid for covered services, and settlement funds help continue care after insurance authorization ends. Volunteers and training partners provide infant care, job training, and health education, while paid staff remain responsible for treatment and resident care.
Budget Breakdown
What is the minimum viable budget to replicate this?
A similar program requires a suitable residence, a treatment provider with Medicaid billing capacity, and funds for care that insurance does not cover. The program did not report a minimum replication budget. The estimated $250,000 annual settlement award is one contribution to a larger financing plan, and the $400,000 acquisition gift was a separate startup investment. A local budget must price renovation, staffing, clinical care, infant support, and recurring operating expenses before a county selects a site or commits to a bed count.
What Worked and Why
Specific decisions or design features that drove success
The program built its schedule around mothers and infants staying together. Babies accompany their mothers in most groups, and staff arrange separate care for the weekly psychodrama session. The 3-month admission age limit reflects the practical demands of having infants in group sessions as they become more mobile.
Anderson Treatment Center uses an ASAM multidimensional clinical assessment to decide whether a woman can participate safely. The program's fixed parameters are the population it serves, pregnant and parenting women, and the infant's age at entry. Other admission decisions rest with a clinician. A psychotic disorder diagnosis, for example, does not exclude a woman on its own. A clinician assesses whether her mental health is stable enough for her to take part in treatment. Ali Hamed-Moore, Chief Administrative Officer of Anderson Treatment Center, described the admission philosophy this way: "We screen people in instead of screening them out."
Settlement funds pay for care after Medicaid authorization ends. Women often need more time in ASAM Level 3.1 residential care than their Medicaid managed care organization will authorize, and settlement support allows the program to keep serving the mother and infant after insurance billing stops. Because the program depends on this support, it must raise funds continually and reapply for settlement funding each year.
The renovated house gives residents a home setting in which to practice daily responsibilities. Anderson Treatment Center designed it to avoid an institutional feel because many residents arrive with long histories in foster care, group homes, and treatment facilities. Staff help women attend medical appointments, care for their babies, and participate in mutual aid meetings during treatment.
Early outcomes and data
The Grove served 38 women from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
The program has capacity for up to 16 women and 16 infants at a time.
The team submits monthly reports to Roanoke City and compiles additional annual outcome data, which were not available for this case study.
Lessons Learned
Separate the capital plan from the care budget. The Grove combined an acquisition gift with renovation support and later used settlement funds for operations. A county must secure both a suitable facility and a reliable source of funding for residents' care.
Design daily treatment around the mother and infant. Group schedules, admission ages, medical appointments, and volunteer roles all reflect the decision to keep mothers and babies together during care.
Preserve room for individual clinical judgment. Establish the program's limits, then assess each woman's circumstances within them. Hamed-Moore's advice was to consider how a person could participate safely before ruling out admission.