Our staff often makes recommendations to parents about when their children should leave the program. However, because they miss having their son or daughter at home, they sometimes don't pay a lot of attention to us.
Their offspring sounds good on the phone. When they visit for a weekend they’re impressed with the child's appearance and attitude. Perhaps they’re reminded of what the child was like when they were growing up - before drugs and alcohol. So, all of a sudden, they begin lobbying for their return home.
Recently we had this situation occur with a client whose family believed he’d progressed enough to successfully graduate. Within a few months though, one of the parents called, requesting that we allow him to return for further treatment. And, after reviewing his file, we agreed.
Our experience with recovery is that it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to change years of living with addiction, to heal the damage. A few extra weeks or months is a small investment if one can change the course of their life.
