Since the 1986 mandatory sentencing drug law the number of women in prison has jumped over 400 percent. Only a small number residential treatment programs serve pregnant and parenting mothers with substance use addictions. On Life's Terms: Mothers in Recovery is the moving story of five women in a rehab in San Rafael, California struggling to overcome addiction, domestic violence, prostitution and incarceration to make a better life for their family told through intimate interviews and scenes with their kids. Their three year journey to recovery is punctuated with the progression of laws and policies impacting vulnerable mothers and children, and reveals eye opening research. Illuminating underlying causes of substance use to inspire greater understanding and catalyze the debate over treatment as opposed to prison.
—Anonymous