[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 44 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING SUNRISE HOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2001

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend and honor the important 
work being done by the Sunrise House Foundation and to congratulate the 
dedicated community leaders being honored on the occasion of the 10th 
anniversary of Sunrise House's Halfway Home.
  The anniversary of the halfway Home will be celebrated at a gala 
``Year of the Child'' dinner this week. Honorees at the dinner include 
my good friends state Senator Robert E. Littell and his wife, former 
New Jersey GOP State Chairwoman Virginia Newman Littell. Senator 
Littell has been a major supporter of Sunrise House's Teen and Clean 
Program for addicted adolescents while Mrs. Littell has been a leading 
advocate of a safe haven for abused children and active in the Year of 
the Child celebration.
  Also being honored is Lorraine Hale, daughter of the legendary Clara 
``Mother'' Hale, with whom she founded the Hale House center for 
children of drug-abusing women in New York. Hale House has served as a 
model for the Sunrise House Halfway Home. In addition, Sussex County 
Prosecutor Dolores Blackburn will receive the John P. Diskin Memorial 
Award for her work addressing the need for addiction treatment 
services.
  Sunrise House is a non-profit drug and alcohol treatment center in 
Lafayette, New Jersey. The 90-bed residential treatment facility 
includes intensive inpatient rehabilitation programs, an adolescent 
unit and outpatient programs for both adolescents and adults. Treatment 
includes both group and individual therapy performed by psychiatrists, 
psychologists, physicians, and certified counselors.
  The Sunrise Halfway Home is an extended treatment program for 
pregnant women and new mothers at risk of relapse into drug or alcohol 
addiction, particularly homeless women. Participants typically enter 
the program during their pregnancy and receive prenatal treatment at 
Morristown Memorial Hospital. Following delivery, the women and their 
infants share a room at the Halfway Home and undergo education in 
parenting skills. In addition to substance abuse therapy, the women are 
encouraged to complete their high school diplomas if they have not 
already done so, and can be placed in vocational training or job 
placement through Sussex County Community College and the Private 
Industry Council.
  The Halfway Home opened its doors in 1990 in Franklin, with a 
capacity of four women and their infants. The facility moved to 
Lafayette in 1997 and now has a capacity of 12 women and infants. Since 
its inception, the home has treated 119 women and 125 children.
  Mr. Speaker, we must rehabilitate those who have made the unfortunate 
choice of ruining their lives and those of their children by abusing 
drugs or alcohol. We cannot allow innocent children to be forced to 
bear the burden of disastrous choices made by their parents. Programs 
such as the Halfway Home are vital to ensuring that the children of 
addicted mothers get another chance at a ``normal'' life. The fact that 
it is a public-private partnership--it receives state funding in 
addition to private funds from generous donors--makes it all the much 
better an example that should be copied across our nation.
  I ask my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives to 
join me in congratulating Sunrise House, its staff, volunteers and 
dedicated community leaders being honored on this celebrated 10th 
anniversary. May God bless all those who have been so dedicated.

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