Juvenile Court Programs Address Opioid Crisis
By Kimberly Laurie
Substance abuse continues to be a significant challenge for our county in 2018.
As the statistics demonstrate, drug cases have increased in the past five years.
Children are the real victims of this crisis. They are vulnerable and depend upon those outside of their home (i.e. extended family, schools, police, Geauga County Job and Family Services and juvenile court, etc.) for protection when their parents are battling addiction.
Prior to the implementation of a supervision program and due to long wait times for an assessment (on average, six to nine months after the court date), Geauga County had three parents die from overdose in 2012. Even after an assessment, the success rate for completing a treatment program had historically been quite low, which resulted in the permanent placement of the children in foster care or adoption.
Geauga County Juvenile Judge Timothy Grendell recognized these issues and spoke out about the growing drug problem in Geauga County.
He created the Family Life Improvement Program at the juvenile court, which is able to coordinate assessments within days, enables parties to begin accessing treatment almost immediately thereafter, and follows up with a more aggressive regimen of drug testing to monitor compliance at an increased court cost.
The juvenile court has two case managers who coordinate these services. These case managers work with parents to expedite assessments and facilitate early entry into substance abuse treatment programs.
As a result, FLIP has consistently reduced the amount of time children are out of the home. More children are being reunited with their families after their parent(s) successfully completes treatment and cases are spending less time before the court because of the early evaluation and treatment, which, in the long term, saves the taxpayers money.
Due to parents abusing substances, there has also been an increased need for supervised visitation. The juvenile court offers supervised visitation services to parents who need to continue to maintain relationships with their children in a safe manner while working to remain sober. The court has also partnered with Ohio Guidestone to provide therapeutic visitation services to parents who are in need of building and improving parenting skills.
The juvenile court’s CASA program served 113 children in 2017, and 92 children so far in 2018, more than half of whom are involved in substance abuse related cases.
In addition to GCJFS complaints, the juvenile court has seen an increase in private custody filings by immediate and extended family members. The family intervenes in order to ensure children are safe and have all of their needs met.
During these cases, substance abuse and mental health issues also must be addressed. Without the care and love of these family members, many more children would have no choice but to be placed into foster care.
Although heroin and opiates have been the center of discussion recently, the court has seen an increase in parents using cocaine and methamphetamine, as compared to previous years.
While the court has not seen an increase in opioid use among youth, we have seen a substantial increase in marijuana use, which, in the court’s experience, is a gateway to more serious drug use. As such, Grendell has increasingly been speaking in schools to educate Geauga County children about the dangers of drug use, and the court has probation officers regularly present in all schools.
Grendell and the court staff are committed to battling the negative effects that increased drug use is having on our community by striving to address the problems of substance abuse through aggressive detection, evaluation and treatment, while protecting the children involved, with the ultimate goal of reunifying the families who come before our court in a safe, stable environment.
Kimberly Laurie is the Geauga County Juvenile Court administrator.
