Franklin County has the dubious distinction of pioneering ways to deal with the national opioid addiction problem. While the abuse of painkillers and heroin isn’t necessarily worse here than elsewhere, our community leaders recognized the growing threat early on and pulled together to begin the ongoing, long-term effort to help those who fall victim to brain-hijacking substance abuse.
So we have seen criminal drug courts that offer treatment in lieu of incarceration. We’ve seen the county jail become something of an addiction treatment facility with bars, because so many inmates arrive hooked. We’ve seen the state government spend more money for short and long-term addiction treatment beds. We’ve seen the Franklin County Regional Opioid Task Force — with representatives from the courts, jails, health services, social services and schools — take the lead in starting and running many of those programs intended to help, not punish, addicts.
And the latest piece of the patchwork is Family Drug Court, an alternative path for parents who stand to lose custody of their children because of their addiction, which tragically can become a compulsion so profound that the addict’s own children can suffer from neglect or worse.
Family Court Judge Beth A. Crawford says the new alternative to simply taking children away from addicts will give families who find themselves involved in such cases — which have increased steadily over recent years — the opportunity to voluntarily enter a court-overseen treatment program while the underlying custody case is put on hold.
“Nothing is more important in the fight against addiction than to make our families whole,” said Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan, a founding member of the regional Opioid Task Force, at a recent launch of the new family court.
Judge Crawford, who deals all day with families in crisis, notes addiction has a profound effect on them, and said federal substance abuse standards dating back to 1995 have shown that substance abusers are typically more responsive to entering treatment when facing the loss of custody of their children.
If participants elect to enter the new Family Drug Court, they’ll be required to participate in local self-help groups multiple times per week, submit to random drug screenings, appear regularly before the court to report on their progress, and work with a recovery coach to address their problem.
Drug treatment courts can serve as gateways to connect addicts to the wider spectrum of treatment services available. Coordinating drug courts with these other services provides recovering addicts with their best chance for success, according to court officials.
“This is about recognition of what happens to one family member happens to all family members,” the judge said.
Paula Carey, the chief justice of the state’s Trial Court, said she hopes Franklin County’s Family Drug Court will become a model for both the rest of the state and the nation.
We hope it will be a successful model that will be replicated elsewhere, because we, as a society, need all the tools we can to fight this scourge.