When Jill Kingston and her husband started fostering newborns exposed to substances in 2013, they could not have imagined where that journey would lead. Through the experience, Kingston saw firsthand the impact of substance use disorder on mothers and babies and the struggles families faced when children were born into homes with mothers with substance use disorders.
“Through all of that, I just had a bigger calling to do something,” Kingston said.
That calling became Brigid’s Path, the first newborn recovery center in Dayton, OH, Kingston’s home state. Since its founding in 2017, Brigid’s Path has welcomed more than 300 families with babies experiencing withdrawal from opioids, prescription medication or other drugs. While medicinal care is provided by onsite medical staff, Brigid’s Path takes a holistic approach to caring for infants, providing small and frequent feedings, low stimulation environments and constant touch or rocking by a round-the-clock team of staff and volunteers.
“If a baby can come here within a couple days of life, we can keep them off of medication just by therapeutic handling and really meeting their needs right away,” Kingston said.
Ashley Wells and her baby at Brigid’s Path.
A wall of babies who have been part of the work of Brigid's Path.
Dr. Judy Monroe, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, stands with Jill Kingston, founder of Brigid's Path.
Central to the mission of Brigid’s Path is care not only for infants, but for the whole family. A nursing team works closely with mothers and fathers to support them in caring for their babies, offering coaching on feeding their infants, principles of safe sleep and basic techniques for calming children, changing diapers and more. By offering a safe, home-like environment, Brigid’s Path encourages mothers to room with, care for and bond with their children—an essential first step to a healthy childhood.
“By wrapping around the whole family, we’ve been able to keep 85 percent of our babies with their families, and that has been amazing,” Kingston said.
For mothers like Ashley Wells, who learned of Brigid’s Path just a month into her recovery from substance use, the support provided by the center has been critical in her journey of recovery. Living at the center for 87 days after her youngest son was born nearly seven weeks premature, Wells says the staff, volunteers and other women at Brigid’s Path provided her with a family atmosphere that helped her start her journey of recovery and nurse her son to health. Through the center, Wells received legal support in court, help in getting an apartment and a place to attend sober support meetings.
“I really believe had it not been for the staff here, I don’t know where I would be today,” Wells said.
As the opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities across America, the work of Brigid’s Path is one piece of a nationwide effort to save lives and keep families together. A crisis of this complexity and magnitude calls for an innovative approach to bring traditionally siloed sectors together to unify their fight.
As part of the effort to curb the opioid epidemic, the CDC Foundation has taken a national approach, training and onboarding more than 200 staff in 45 jurisdictions to collect and respond to information about overdose incidents and developing and implementing strategies to prevent substance use among young people in rural communities. Additionally, in 2017, the CDC Foundation helped launch the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS), created through a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, pairing CDC Foundation public health analysts with drug intelligence officers in jurisdictions across the country to share information and support proven approaches to address overdoses and emerging drug threats.
“I really see the overlap between the work we are doing to combat the opioid epidemic with what Brigid’s Path is doing to care for infants and families,” said Judy Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. “The opioid epidemic is a complex problem, and we need to address its impact at every level to save lives.”
Dr. Monroe recently visited Brigid’s Path to see firsthand the benefits such care can have on babies impacted by the opioid epidemic. She believes Brigid’s Path can serve as a model for newborn recovery care.
“As a national organization, the CDC Foundation is able to identify promising models like Brigid’s Parth and not only sustain them, but scale them up, so they can have an even greater impact,” Dr. Monroe said.
They've shown me so much love, so much grace and so much support. I will forever be grateful for Brigid's Path
Able to provide care at a fraction of the cost of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Brigid’s Path has become a model others can replicate to care for infants impacted by substance use. With funding, Kingston said, their model could be adopted by other states, potentially providing care to thousands of more families dealing with addiction. But as one of only five newborn recovery centers in the United States, and the only one in Ohio, Brigid’s Path is currently facing a critical six-month funding gap as they await sustainable public resources An Ohio native, Dr. Monroe visited Brigid’s Path to raise awareness of the gap and galvanize donations to sustain the center.
For Ashley Wells, nearly two years sober now, coming to Brigid’s Path marked the start of her recovery, and provided the support she needed to be a mother to her children.
“They’ve shown me so much love, so much grace and so much support,” Wells said. “I just will forever be grateful for Brigid’s Path.”
Learn How You Can Support Brigid’s Path
The CDC Foundation is raising critical funds to support Brigid’s Path as they navigate a six-month gap in funding. Give today to support newborns and their families. If you would like to explore ways to give to Brigid’s Path, please contact Alison Thompson, MPA, chief advancement officer, at 404.523.3496 or via email at athompson@cdcfoundation.org.
