Temptations Counter Small Victories in Struggle to Regain Child

The second in a week-long series of stories recounts the journey of one of the first couples to enter the Family Recovery Program, an experimental Maryland court attempting to help drug addicts get clean, then get their children back from state custody. The story reflects scenes staff writer Mary Otto witnessed or, when noted, were recalled to her. At a hearing in September, the judge suspected that Stacy Coleman was high.

October-November 2005

"Ms. Coleman, you look remarkably better. Like you are in this world,'' Judge Martin P. Welch says.

Stacy Coleman is wearing a clean peasant blouse. Her short hair is shining. Keith Cromwell, her boyfriend and the father of her newborn, is there, too.

Welch congratulates her. He sees in her file all the right developments:

She is now living at a Recovery Network house for women in Baltimore. Making good progress. Urine tests show that she is staying away from drugs.

"I wasn't sure what I was going to do with you if you had come back like you were last time," Welch tells her. "You've done a 180-degree turnaround."

Caseworkers, lawyers, roughly a dozen other struggling mothers and two fathers in the courtroom applaud.

Welch asks Coleman to come up to the bench. The judge awards her a "lifestyle certificate" commending her on her newfound sobriety and hands her a brightly wrapped gift.

"A book to read to Keyona," explains the judge.

The book is part of a larger boon that her progress brings. She will have a supervised visit with her daughter, now 3 months old and living in a foster home in the suburbs. The judge turns to Cromwell.

"I feel blessed," Cromwell tells the judge in his gruff voice.