Tabbitha and George Campbell along with their children celebrate their graduation day from the Safe Haven program in Oklahoma City. After years of battling substance abuse, the couple said the program offered them a chance to create the family they'd always wanted.
“We’ve created a family.”
Oklahoma County District Judge Stephen Alcorn announced to a packed courtroom that through the efforts of the Oklahoma County Safe Haven team, George and Tabbitha Campbell, who had married just weeks before, could graduate from the Safe Haven program.
“I can’t think of a better first family to graduate,” Alcorn said to the Campbells, along with their two sons. “These boys are going to take you as their example. Men learn how to treat women by how fathers treat their mothers. You both have worked really hard.”
In 2001, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse chose Pottawatomie County as a pilot site for Safe Haven. Oklahoma County 55G began using the program in 2005 as a metropolitan demonstration site.
In policy jargon, Safe Haven “is a partnership project to promote child safety, permanency, and family stability through an integrated, family-centered service delivery network for families known to the child welfare system and struggling with substance abuse.”
To the Safe Haven team, comprised of child welfare staff, family support staff, substance abuse providers, court-appointed special advocates, district attorneys, judges, as well as the family, it means digging way down deep into family issues to overcome barriers.
For the Campbells, it meant overcoming substance abuse, domestic violence and child welfare issues.
“I was a 30-year substance abuser,” said George Campbell, who has worked for 23 years at the Community Action Agency. “My drug of choice was marijuana. Getting to a place to be clean and sober took awhile. I had to accept everything. The program asked a lot of me. It was what I needed to do to make my family complete.”
Safe Haven uses a four-phase approach to recovery and stability. Families must accomplish each phase before moving to the next. The Safe Haven team worked with the Campbells, identifying their strengths and outlining areas that needed improvement. Each phase required specific action and progress by the family. They’ve both been sober 18 months and look forward to having Tabbitha’s oldest child rejoin the family.
“The program broke me down in order to build me back up,” said Tabbitha Campbell. “I used crutches to support my poor decision making. It gave me parenting skills that will let me grow into the mother they need me to be. My boys – they deserve a clean life with clean parents.”