Mom-to-be gets a second chance

Ava, a resident of Cincinnati, sneaked her first sip of alcohol from her parents’ liquor cabinet with a friend when she was 12. She says, “Anytime I felt mad, sad, angry, ashamed, embarrassed, or anything, I would try to mask those feelings with alcohol so I could escape. And, of course, alcohol wasn’t doing it anymore so it progressed into pills, opiates, oxycontin, and then the crack cocaine, which brought me to my knees.”

After years of using drugs, Ava tried to commit suicide and ended up staying overnight in a hospital psych ward. Upon her release, Ava went downtown to score drugs. Ava explains that is when she turned to prostitution: “For five or six days I was up the whole time just selling myself for drugs.  I never thought I would be that grimy and disgusting… walking the street and getting into a car and not knowing if it will be the police or if someone will hurt you or what’s gonna happen. That was probably the worst period of my life because I felt so disgusting, dirty, and ugly. I completely hated myself for what I was doing and I knew I was hurting my parents ’cause I was gone. They didn’t know where I was.”

Ava’s tumultuous week ended in arrest. The judge recommended Cincinnati Union Bethel’s Off the Streets^SM program and from there Ava’s life took a drastic turn. The program helped Ava obtain a much needed medical checkup, from which she discovered she was pregnant.

Ava credits her work with the Off the Streets^SM program with helping her stay sober during her pregnancy. “The facilitators here really care about us and want us to succeed. When they put that much trust and belief in us then we start to believe in ourselves too. It’s hard to put into words how it makes you feel because it’s just so awesome.”

Today Ava is sober and busy preparing for motherhood.  She just found that she will have a permanent place to stay in time for her baby’s arrival. Thank you, Sierra, Lesley, Kandace, Richard, and Microsoft, for providing Ava with the opportunity to be the type of mom she wants to be — free of drugs, loving, and ready to face the future.