Risen Recovery: Mother creates home for other women battling addiction

(FOX 9) - A Minnesota mom is on a mission to help other women in the trenches of their addiction.

After essentially living on the streets, Kari Rutman is opening a new group home that will allow mothers to recover while still having their children live with them.

The group home, Risen Recovery, is set to officially open in Farmington at the end of June.

Rutman says a lot of mothers struggle in their recovery because they're often forced to separate from their kids in treatment centers. So, she's hoping for a more holistic approach to staying clean.

Rutman has poured her heart and soul into making the house a home for women to get their lives back on track. The single mother of two knows what it's like to lose everything while battling drug addiction.

“I was in the alleys of downtown Minneapolis asking anyone for what I needed. It was dark, it was ugly,” she said.

Rutman’s opiate addiction started with prescribed painkillers and then spiraled into heroin. At one point, she lost her home and custody of her kids.

“I should be dead. I truly should not be alive. It’s only by the grace of God that I’m alive.”

But, she did not become a statistic.

Through successful treatment programs and her relationships at church, she has a second chance at life. Rutman joined other women from her church, who also battled addiction, to start the group home.

Kay Beckman said one of the hurdles for her was finding a place that would accept children.

"This house can be a small step in the right direction to providing women with the help that they need,” Beckman said.

The goal is to not only offer emotional support, but to help some women with felony records find a job and a place to live so they can eventually integrate back into society.

“No matter how many times you’ve tried and failed, you can always get back up again and try again," volunteer Michelle Gust said. "There’s always going to be hope."

Any woman is welcome to show up to the home, they just need to follow the rules of the house: Staying sober, working or volunteering, attending treatment and attending a religious service once a week.

Kari and the other volunteers will also drive to different recovery centers and shelters to find mothers in need of a place to live.

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