SUBSTANCE abuse by parents is one of the major reasons children are removed from a home and placed into foster care.
More than 80 percent of all Children in Need of Services (CHINS) cases in Bartholomew County involve a parent dealing with drug addiction.
The growing opioid epidemic led to creation of a collaborative task force, the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP) Bartholomew County, which has been working on solutions for more than a year.
Families are broken apart until the addicted parent can demonstrate the sobriety and responsibility necessary to reunify the family.
Bartholomew County is trying to lend a hand in that reunification process with a new type of problem-solving court, Family Recovery Court.
It represents yet another good step in the community’s response to its addiction problem.
The court will be under the supervision of Bartholomew County Juvenile Magistrate Heather Mollo. It’s expected to receive final approval soon from the Indiana Office of Court Services.
The idea of Family Recovery Court is to give parents who struggle with addiction help and structure, and a path to reunification with their children. Family Recovery Court is voluntary, and only certain types of CHINS cases meet the criteria for eligibility.
It’s designed as a collaborative, non-adversarial process during which parents receive a support network of services that focus on abilities and potential. They are also held accountable through monitoring, evaluations and reviews.
Families and communities are served best when children are raised by sober, responsible parents. Creating a court that can provide addicted parents the means to get clean from drugs, learn structure, develop better parenting skills and reunify with their children is a beneficial addition to the community.
It gives hope that after reunification, children will enjoy better lives physically and emotionally.
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