1 - Effective Strategies for Courtroom Advocacy on Substance Use and Parenting
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LockedParent defenders know the challenges of working with pregnant and parenting women who are involved with the child welfare system because of allegations that they have used substances. This presentation describes a harm reduction approach to improve outcomes for the mother-baby dyad and their families. Parent advocates can use this information to educate judges and child welfare agency professionals about harm reduction strategies, and how they can keep families together while promoting good health care and minimizing court and child welfare agency involvement in families’ lives.
Objectives:
• Participants will understand the harm reduction approach to improve outcomes for mother-baby dyads and their families.
Ronald Abrahams, MD, FCFP, MSC (he/his)
The University of British Columbia
Dr. Ron Abrahams is a Family Physician in Vancouver. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Practice at UBC, as well as Consultant Physician at the Sheway Program and a Board Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Dr. Abrahams is the founding Medical Director of the FIR (Families in Recovery) Rooming in Program at BCWH-the first of its kind in North America. The unit has been named a “leading practice” by the Canadian Council of Health Accreditation, cited in the 2007 Kroeger Award for maintaining a high quality of care with demonstrated peer-reviewed improved outcomes. For his work during the last 35 years, he has been recognized as an invited speaker nationally and internationally for his peer-reviewed research and his role in developing evidence-based Harm Reduction guidelines and protocols for women with problematic substance use in pregnancy. He received the Meritorious Service Cross in 2017. The Meritorious Service Decorations were “created by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, to enable the Governor General of Canada to recognize Canadians for their exceptional deeds and outstanding accomplishments that bring honor to the country.” He also received the 2008 Kaiser Foundation National Award for Excellence in Leadership for Harm Reduction Programs, the 2019 UBC Faculty of Medicine Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Practice Teaching, the Primus Inter Pares Degree (First among Equals) by the Vancouver Medical Association in 2016 and was the Recipient of the C&W Medical Staff Association Award for Indigenous Health and Outreach Advocate in 2018.
