Manley Congratulates Stepping Stones on Recovery Home for Women, Children Ribbon Cutting

JOLIET, Ill. – State Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, joined Stepping Stones in its ribbon cutting for the new Recovery Home for Women with Children. Manley was joined at the ribbon cutting by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Kay O’Brien, and Congressman Bill Foster, D-Aurora.

“Joliet and Will County are lucky to have such a warm, safe, healthy place for women to go while they continue through the phases of recovery, and keep their children with them,” Rep. Manley said. “Keeping families together is imperative, not only for the mother, but especially for the children.”

The Recovery Home for Women with Children is an 8-unit apartment building that provides a structured, supportive living environment free of alcohol and other drugs for women with a substance abuse disorder and their children up to age five. It is located in Joliet, near the site of Stepping Stones’ existing residential treatment services location that will be staffed 24-hours a day.

It is the only facility of its kind in Northern Illinois that has a program for up to eight months, said Rabbi Jenny Steinberg-Martinez, executive director. It allows women to spend the informative years with their children while they stay clean, and the children stay out of the system.

“Mothers take responsibility for a daily routine that includes caring for themselves and their children, practicing daily living skills, participation in recovery support and treatment groups, going to work or other meaningful activity, furthering their education and becoming financially self-supporting,” according to the Stepping Stones Treatment Center brochure.

“Thank you Rabbi Jenni Steinberg-Martinez, and former director Paul Lauridsen, for pursuing your vision to have this much-needed facility here in Joliet,” Rep. Manley said.