By David Palmer
There are 24 million children in the United States — that’s one out of three — who live without their biological father.
It is a problem with serious consequences. Children who live absent their biological fathers are at least two or three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs and to experience educational, health, emotional and behavior problems.
Absentee fathers have been criticized for shirking their parental responsibilities and in many cases deservedly so. At the same time, many men are trying to do better as fathers through programs like Promise Keepers and Men’s Fraternity.
Jim Clark, executive director for the past seven years at the Wilbur D. Mills substance abuse treatment center, in Searcy, Arkansas is also addressing the problem in a small yet potentially significant way. It involves two fathers who recently came under his care at Mills.
The two men, both recovering from substance abuse problems, were seeking custody of their small children while they themselves are recovering from their addictions. This may sound like a bad idea, but the fact was the mothers had abandoned the children, and Clark thought it would be much better for the children if they could be with their fathers under the right conditions.
The men accepted at the outset that there would have to be a solid and closely supervised program of recovery for them to succeed in their petitions for their children.
And so it was that Judge Craig Hannah at Family Circuit Court in Searcy awarded Tom Smith (not his real name) custody of his nine-month old baby boy. At the hearing, Smith told the judge if he could have his son, he would get clean and sober.
Prior to getting custody, Smith, in his mid-forties, received 30 days in-patient treatment at Wilbur Mills followed by another 30 days of out-patient treatment while living in independent housing on the treatment center’s grounds. During these 60 days, he was allowed to spend supervised time with his baby.
After that, Clark said, Smith, with the help of the Center, got an apartment locally and landed a good job. He has his baby, and, as directed by Judge Hannah, Wilbur Mills and the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services continue to provide supervision.
Preparing for the real world
This continuum of care illustrates Mills’ focus on “recovery” rather than simply “treatment,” Clark points out. “We’re concerned about the longer term — not less than a year — all with the aim of preparing our patients for life in the real world. And that includes taking care of their children.”
The second man in the program, John Jones (not his real name), entered in-patient treatment at Wilbur Mills with his wife, also in treatment, and their two-year-old son. The wife skipped, but Jones stayed.
Jones completed his treatment, got a house in the community with his son and is continuing his recovery with the Wilbur Mills outpatient program.
Clark is a recovering alcoholic himself with many years of sobriety and a devoted family man with grown children. He presides over a facility covering more than 10 acres and a comprehensive program for treatment of chemical dependency that favors long term care through both inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. On the campus visitors will find:
• A 20-bed medical detox
• A 44-bed residential treatment facility
• A 14-bed group home
• 99 units of housing
• A mental health clinic
• A 24-hour crisis hot line
• A computer training center, and
• The Kay Goss Women’s Unit (14 apartments for women and their
children.
Mills’ treatment plan blends the best attributes of the medical/behavioral, family systems and 12-Step Addiction Recovery models. The treatment team consists of a medical director, registered nurses, clinical psychologists, a psychiatrist, certified substance abuse counselors and social workers. This team develops an individual treatment plan for each patient.
One of the things that makes the Mills operation unique is its solid pedigree. It was founded by William C. Huddleston, a man of admirable sensitivity and political skill. And it bears the name of one of the most powerful men ever in the U.S. Congress, the late Speaker of the House Wilbur D. Mills.
Founder Huddleston, a Baptist preacher with a degree from Baylor, nine years of seminary experience and a ministry in El Dorado, Arkansas, decided to make a change in 1968 and took the job of planning director for North Central Arkansas Mental Health Clinic headquartered in Batesville.
Soon Huddleston was named CEO of the company and expanded its programs and reach to 10 counties on a mission to provide a system of care unequaled in rural America.
From the beginning of his association with the clinic (which was renamed a “Center” with its expansion), one of the things that bothered Huddleston was the lack of treatment for alcoholics, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
He found inspiration in 1972 when he ran across the “Dry Docker’s” AA group that had formed in an abandoned pool hall in Kensett, not far from Searcy.
Huddleston marveled at the results the group appeared to be getting, and persuaded them to move to the grounds of the Searcy Center — which now included 10 additional acres — where they could help alcoholics who were being treated at the clinic.
By 1978 the center had established its comprehensive substance abuse treatment program, along with a residential/detoxification program.
In the late seventies, Huddleston had persuaded Mr. Mills, a recovering alcoholic himself, to lend his name and influence to the Center.
Mills alcoholism, many will remember, came to light during an epic public spectacle which began to unfold in early October of 1974 with a drunken scuffle in Mills’ car. It involved Argentine stripper Annabelle Baptista, better known as Fanne Foxe.
During the struggle, Ms. Foxe, seeking escape from Mills’ alleged advances, leapt from the car and jumped into Washington’s Tidal Basin. Authorities pulled her out and took her to St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital for treatment.
After that, things seemed to quiet down. Mills was handily re-elected to Congress in early November. But on November 30, obviously drunk, he made a surprise debut at the Pilgrim Theater in Boston, a burlesque house where Ms. Foxe was performing.
On that evening he appeared briefly on stage with Ms. Foxe’s husband and later held an impromptu press conference in her dressing room.
Not long after that, Mills checked himself into Palm Beach Institute in Florida for treatment and gave up politics to devote his time to counseling individual alcoholics and raising funds for alcoholic causes.
Mills was not the only prominent politician to lend a hand in the development of the Center. Later Huddleston urged both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to provide support, and they did.
Huddleston died in 2005. His wife of nearly 25 years, Fran Flener, testifies to his extraordinary contribution to the treatment of alcoholics, and the bottom line, she says, is that “Bill always talked about recovery not treatment.”
After Huddleston’s death, Flener took over what had evolved into Health Resources of Arkansas (HRA) and directed it for almost two years before accepting an appointment from Governor Mike Beebe three years ago as Arkansas State Drug Director.
Beebe on that occasion said, “Fran’s extensive leadership experience in drug rehabilitation services and other health-care issues will help our state in fighting drug abuse and finding solutions…”
A current Flener project, now under way, addresses the abuse of prescription drugs in Arkansas with special emphasis on reducing the flow of drugs from household medicine cabinets to adolescents.
