Faith one year on from addiction battle Baby Faith was born seven weeks premature at Sunshine Hospital. BABY Faith had the odds stacked against her. Born to a drug-addicted mum, she suffered the jitters and dangers of withdrawal. Her first month of life was spent kicking a habit. But now, at one, the little girl has done more than catch up with her peers. Some of them she's waved as she's passed. And she does it with a cheeky smile. Faith bursts on all fours around her parents' living room floor. Cruises around furniture. She's doing at least as well as others born at the same time. This baby whose story the Sunday Herald Sun told one year ago - her dramatic entry to the world on the living room floor eight weeks too early, her feeble wails across the Sunshine Hospital's Special Care Nursery as her body craved her mother's drugs - may not have thrived. Her mother, Margaret, was then on antipsychotics and antidepressants and a daily dose of methadone that might have killed an average woman. The methadone was to treat her heroin addiction from the past. A drug habit to kick The chaos that often goes with methadone babies can alone be enough to make their future uncertain. Family stress from money problems. The temptation of links in the drug world. Unstable family life. And that's not even touching on medical complications of a little girl starting life addicted. But Baby Faith's doting father and mum have come through strong. There's a little sister - born one month, one week and one day after Faith's first birthday - that has further glued the family together. Victoria came home from hospital last week. Doctors induced her deliver weeks early, but in her four weeks in the special care unit barely suffered from withdrawal. She didn't need morphine to settle her, as her big sister did. Faith, now one, with her baby sister, Victoria. Sunshine Hospital neonatologist Thao Lu loves success stories. Faith's is one. She has seen the little girl in clinic several times since her birth and the worrying early weeks. Lots of children born to drug addicted mothers can be very unsettled, crying excessively or throwing tantrums. They can be very challenging," she says. But (Faith) is a really beautiful, very calm, well-mannered child. It's so rewarding to see. Gallery: Faith's confronting battle Little sister Victoria was a planned baby and Margaret had reduced her dose of methadone before falling pregnant. She came off antipsychotics and antidepressants completely. At the time Faith was born, Margaret didn't have a car to drive. She spent an hour every day making her way to her baby in hospital, walking or catching public transport. She was stressed from meetings watchful child protection officers. She had unresolved criminal proceedings clouding her future. But a local car dealer gave her a reliable vehicle to help her get by - an example for his eight-year-old son that it was better to give than receive. The kindness of strangers has floored Margaret and her partner. The criminal matters are sorted. Margaret is healthier than ever. There are no child protection concerns. Timeline: Saving baby Faith Readers touched by Faith's story donated bags of newborn clothes and cuddly toys, hoping the support would give her a better chance at life. When Faith turned one, presents arrived to show that people still remembered. Her ordeal was not forgot, nor the effort her parents made to do the best by their baby. Margaret spent the first part of her adult life in jail more than out. While most had given up on her, her grandmother didn't. It was one of her dying wishes that Margaret would clean up her life and stay out of trouble. After months of pleading, a new public housing property was found for the family, far away from the street which contained the memories of some of Margaret's criminal nightmares. They haunted the old place. "I had to get out of there, for her sake," Margaret says, nodding towards Faith. I'm a different person. Without the prescription drugs I FEEL more now, my memory is better. And I will never go back to jail. Her grandmother knew she could do it. Margaret reckons she'd be smiling now. The Sunday Herald Sun has protected the identity of the family by changing their names.