2 MOTHERS SUCCEED IN FAMILY DRUG COURT

Women cited for being 1st to make it to program's 2nd phase; plan contains 4
levels

Two Huntsville women faced with losing permanent custody of their children
because of drug or alcohol abuse are succeeding in Madison County Family
Drug Court.

Africia Gates and Christine Ramsey completed the first phase of the program
last week. They were recognized for their achievement during a ceremony
Monday at the Madison County Courthouse.

There are 10 parents with 22 children in the family court program. Only
Gates and Ramsey, so far, have reached the second phase.

Parents using drugs and alcohol are splitting families at an alarming rate
locally, said District Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod, who presides over the
family drug court. Many of the children end up in foster care.

In December 2001, the 145 children in foster care left Madison County ranked
behind only Jefferson County (286) and Mobile County (192) statewide. A
significant number of those in foster care here are the result of substance
abuse, Sherrod said.

Africia Gates

An angry remark during a domestic dispute with her former common-law husband
early last year in front of police landed Gates, a 28-year-old optician, in
family drug court.

''We were bickering back and forth,'' she said. ''He said, 'She smokes
marijuana.' I said, 'So what?' ''

Police notified the Department of Human Resources. She was visited by a
social worker, and her son, 8, and daughter, 10, were placed in foster care.

''The officer wrote in his report that I was being arrogant and that it was
against the law to raise children and use any type of illegal drug,'' she
said.

Here's the story she shares:

Gates was born in 1975 in Atlanta to an alcoholic mother and an absentee
father. She was 14 when her foster mother died, and soon she was hanging in
the streets daily, smoking marijuana with her friends. She quit school in
the ninth grade.

For the next 14 years, Gates smoked marijuana every day. She smoked through
two abusive relationships that yielded two children, and through a six-year
common-law relationship with a man 24 years older who did not use drugs or
drink.

She didn't see anything wrong with smoking marijuana.

''It made me feel peaceful and happy,'' she said. ''I guess it filled the
void of not having a mother and family."

She didn't want any help, and she didn't want to stop. But when authorities
took her children, she said, "That was my wake-up call."

Gates said the family drug court program has made her understand the flaws
in her thinking.

"Now my children fill that emptiness,'' she said.

The court reunited Gates and her children several months ago on condition
that she complete the program she started in June.

Four-part program

DHR directs some of its clients to family drug court. There are no criminal
proceedings; family drug court refers parents to treatment, work and
education programs. There are also counseling programs for the children.

Although some of the parents in the program face criminal charges, family
drug court is not a sentencing alternative, said Kim Thurston, the court's
coordinator. None of the particiThe first such program in Alabama, it is
patterned on the family drug court in Pensacola, Fla. Participants must
complete its four phases within 18 months. pants faces charges for drug
sales or trafficking or violent crimes.

The first such program in Alabama, it is patterned on the family drug court
in Pensacola, Fla. Participants must complete its four phases within 18
months.

The program's first phase is treatment, said Jackie Wolfe, the family drug
court administrator. Participants report to court once a week and to their
social worker for 10 weeks. In addition, they go to training sessions based
on a 12-step program similar to that of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In phase two, which lasts six months, participants must apply what they
learned at the first level. They must work, pay their bills and stay sober
and out of jail. The court appearances are cut to once every other week, but
participants must continue weekly visits with a social worker. Phase three
is a two-month maintenance program with monthly court appearances and weekly
meetings or calls to social workers.

Phase four lasts six months. Participants are required to report to court
every three months and to their social workers every week. Participants also
start their educational or vocational training if any is necessary.

''In this phase, we try to wean them from the court and make them become
more independent," Thurston said.

Throughout the program, participants take random drug tests.

DHR picks up the tab for treatment and training programs. Participants pay
$300 each, half that if they perform 100 hours of community service. Those
who relapse are ejected from the program and required to go through child
custody proceedings. Children neglected or abused because of a parent's
substance abuse can be placed in foster care or with a relative. Some are
placed in DHR's custody but remain in their home.

''Christine and Africia didn't have any trouble grasping the theory of the
program,'' said Stephanie Bell, a DHR social worker in charge of screening
the applications of prospective participants in the family drug court
program. ''They have moved through the first phase successfully because they
have close bonds with their children."

Bell said both women fit a typical addict profile: long histories of abuse
that started very young. They've been successful thus far, she said, because
they were willing to change their way of thinking.

"But there are others in the program who have heard the theory and rejected
it.''

Ramsey, a 30-year-old assembly line worker, said the program provided
answers she could not find by thumbing through the telephone book.

Alcohol was Ramsey's problem. Here is the story she tells:

By the time she was a young teen, Ramsey was running away from an abusive
home life most weekends. To pass the time, she and her friends sipped beer
and wine coolers.

Ramsey was 17 when she married an alcoholic. She started drinking a lot to
ease the strife in her home.

''I couldn't tolerate him when I was sober,'' she said.

Ramsey and three children from that marriage, now ages 10, 11 and 12, left
her husband in 1995. Though Ramsey remains legally married, she and her
boyfriend had a child together four years ago.

She was already in a treatment program sponsored by DHR when a social worker
gave her a choice: Stop drinking or lose her children.

Ramsey entered the family drug court program in September.

''The program has done wonders for me,'' she said. ''It brought me together
spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Before, I was just surviving.''