W.H. boosts new shelter for female vets

An organization building the first care center for homeless female veterans with children is receiving support from the Obama administration.
The “face of homelessness” has long been male, argued Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama’s drug czar, who is publicizing the center. “I think it’s really important that we start putting the face of veterans in need of services for the females,” Kerlikowske told POLITICO.

A $1 million grant from the Veterans Affairs Department for the Center for Drug-Free Living will pay for the 28-bed center to be built in Cocoa, Fla., starting in April. While there are centers that care for specifically female veterans, the Florida home — Operation Home Front — will be the first to treat the children of veterans, too.

A news release for the project said that of the 1.6 million people sent to Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks, 15 percent have been women. A goal of the home is to give a haven to homeless female veterans who might otherwise avoid getting help because of rules that forbid them from bringing their children with them.

“What is often not recognized is that most treatment facilities for substance abuse are not family friendly,” Kerlikowske said. “The research shows that if the family can be kept intact, the treatment outcomes are increased.”

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0110/help_for_female_vets_3bd04cf2-347e-4f4e-8216-db3660d15b9d.html

on getting to the basic urgent problems and strenghtening our human infrastructure as well.

Mass. can be so stupid???

nt