Documentary Highlights Marin Mothers Living Clean

March 29, 2008

In the fury to clean up America, the 1986 war on drugs has sent record numbers of women to prison and their children into an overburdened foster care system. Several states have denied substance abusing pregnant women their constitutional and human rights by prosecuting them for their addiction as opposed to addressing it as a health issue… My friend and filmmaker Sheila Ganz is raising money to finish her film Moms Living Clean, a film which chronicles the three year journey of six mothers as they transform their lives through a women and children’s residential substance abuse treatment program, transitional housing, and re-entering the workforce in San Rafael.

The organization Ganz is featuring is Center Point, a private, not-for-profit corporation providing integrated services to at-risk individuals and families. Center Point was founded in 1971 and provides “comprehensive social, educational, vocational, medical, psychological, housing, and rehabilitation services to combat social problems as substance abuse, poverty, unemployment, and homelessness.

The women in this film are determined to end the shattering cycle of violence, trauma, and addiction. They confront issues which led to their addiction - childhood exposure to alcohol and drugs, sexual and domestic violence - to get clean, learn parenting skills, and become self-sufficient.

These profiles are interwoven with a brief history of punitive drug policies impacting vulnerable pregnant and parenting women. Moms Living Clean makes the case for whole-family treatment, where mother and children stay together, as an alternative to incarceration and breaking family ties.

Sheila Ganz has this to say about this film and how her own experiences shaped this work:

“In 1969, I was in a Salvation Army Home for Unwed Mothers for the last two months of my pregnancy where I was given no choice but to relinquish my newborn daughter for adoption. I always wondered… ‘Why can’t there be homes to help mothers keep their children?’ I wanted this to be the subject of my next film and then I found Center Point, Inc. I called Dr. Sushma Taylor, their Chief Executive Officer, told her my idea and I met with her top staff. They were very responsive to my making the film. It felt like the perfect match.“

Moms Living Clean is Sheila’s sophomore film. Her first documentary was “Unlocking the Heart of Adoption” which documented the experiences of birth parents, adoptive parents, adoptees, and trans-racial adoption in a powerful way. Her work on the film earned her a 2006 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s of Angels in Adoption Award.

Sheila needs $40,000 to complete editing and prepare the film for public television broadcast while she continues to research and apply to foundations for funding. A $100 donation will get your name in the credits of the film. You can make a donation via the film’s website. You will receive a Thank You letter for your generous donation.

If you want your donation to be tax deductable, make your check out to “Film Arts Foundation” and send to:

Sheila Ganz, Producer/Director
Pandora’s Box Productions
1546 Great Highway, Suite 44
San Francisco, CA 94112

The goals of the film are to combat the stereotypes and stigma surrounding mothers with substance abuse issues, promote more whole-family residential treatment programs, and inspire women and men in recovery. There are less than 40 programs like this in the U.S. today, less than one a state.

“I have viewed a rough-cut of MOMS LIVING CLEAN and am moved by the deeply personal and engaging stories of vulnerable mothers powerfully committed to their sobriety and to their families. The film shines the light on effective interventions for parental addiction. MOMS LIVING CLEAN will help turn the tide of stigma and punitive laws by generating community support through education and understanding about the real lives of mothers in recovery. Public opinion is critical to influencing funding of programs for family-oriented treatment, as an alternative to sentencing mothers to prison and their children to foster care.”
Malika Saada Saar, Executive Director
The Rebecca Project for Human Rights
Washington, DC

If you would like to schedule a screening of the film-in-progres, please call Sheila at 415-564-3691 or email her at momslivingclean@att.net.

I have watched the film in progress with women who are a part of similar programs in San Francisco, and the response was very moving. This film is really worth getting out there.