36 Simon Communities in Ireland Many women who were not caring for their child(ren) reported that they had limited parent- child contact and, for a considerable number, this contact was further hampered by their lack of access to a space that would facilitate visitation. This lack of contact was distressing for these women – who almost always became upset when they talked about the experience – and many expressed a desire for more regular contact with their children in a safe and secure environment. In the following account, Maeve explained that although she had better and more regular contact with her daughter in recent months, opportunities to re-build the relationship were limited because family members were not permitted to visit. “Like going back a month ago, I was getting text messages from my younger daughter. They’re not allowed stay here hostel. To have my own place and have them to come up and visit me like? My god, that’s, that’s priceless, you know.” (Maeve, 46) A large number of women reported that they had a current or past substance use problem and, as documented earlier, there were many reports of increased substance use following their first contact with homeless service settings. At the time of interview, twenty-two of the women were active heroin users who most often used the drug in combination with other substances including benzodiazepines and cocaine. A further twelve stated that alcohol was their current primary substance of misuse. A considerable number of these women expressed a preference for hostels that accommodated the needs of active drug users, as Karen explained in the following excerpt. “In hostel 1, if you had a drug habit they’d even give you the bins, they’d even help you, they’d put the bins in your toilet, to put in used needles like … In here hostel 2 they tell you you’re not allowed put any sharp objects in. You have to sneak them in and if you get caught you have the risk of losing your bed, which is disgraceful for somebody that’s on drugs, what do they expect?” (Karen, 26) Conversely, non-substance using women, or women who were trying to curb their use of alcohol and/or drugs, often sought a greater degree of structure within accommodation settings and preferred stricter, substance-free environments or spaces that facilitated the goal of abstinence or more restricted substance use. These women felt that drug-free spaces helped them to reduce consumption or remain abstinent, in some cases. Roisín, like a number of others, attributed her relapse to a hostel environment that provided her with easy access to heroin. “I was doing brilliant referring to abstinence from heroin use for a while but ... when I came in here hostel they were saying to me was I on drugs. I was just after coming off the heroin. What did they do? They put me straight into a room with a girl who was on heroin … And then, we were off taking the gear the two of us and that was how I started back on it.” (Roisín, 37) While many of the women focused on the conditions and ‘rules’ within services, a considerable number also referred to the overall structure of the homeless service system, often commenting that it did not cater adequately for certain ‘groups’ of individuals. Several, for example, talked about their limited access to family homeless accommodation that would permit mothers to reside in with their children and their partners simultaneously.
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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