When I was a researcher and applied anthropologist for five years at the Southwest Institute for Research on Women in Tucson, Arizona, my specific role was to work with substance abusing adolescent girls. Our team was awarded grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) for improving health education and substance abuse recovery support. Part of my responsibilities was to connect with the youth while they were in residential substance abuse treatment, help them develop a recovery plan for when they returned to their community, and offer recovery support to them in the community after they were released from treatment. Time and time again I was exasperated with systematic barriers that the youth would confront when they returned to community life (Hedges 2012). This article discusses the barriers impacting the processes for youth re-enrollment in school after treatment.