When children are neglected or abused by parents addicted to drugs or alcohol, families often end up in the state’s juvenile courts.
In some cases, children are removed from their homes and placed into foster care. Some never go home.
Using a state grant, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Juvenile Court Judge Philip B. Spivey is using the circuit’s new Family Dependency Treatment Court to give parents a chance to kick their addiction and have children return home faster.
Like other accountability courts that offer alternative ways of handling drug and mental health cases, Family Dependency Treatment Courts work to help correct parents’ behavior without them losing their children forever, Spivey said.
The court partners with River Edge Behavioral Health Center and the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services to offer drug treatment, parenting support and other services.
Family Treatment Dependency Courts first started cropping up across the nation in 1995. More than 300 are in operation today. State records show 10 are based in Georgia.
The need for the courts grew out of juvenile court judges’ frustration with a law requiring judges to find a permanent placement for children within 15 to 22 months, Spivey said.
via New court program lends helping hand to parents addicted to drugs | Local & State | Macon.com.
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