DRUG COURT HELPS TEENS WITH ABUSE PROBLEMS

Family Court plans to enroll its first families this month into a new
Juvenile Drug Court, the second in the area.

Three times a week, they'll go to group counseling. Three times a week,
they'll go to class. And once a week, they'll go to a support group, get
counseling by themselves, talk with their probation officer, and their
families will go to class and go to therapy.

They'll give drug tests on demand. They'll be encouraged to go to ballgames
and school dances. If they're doing well, they'll get rewards like gift
certificates for food and clothes, and if they falter, they'll face
sanctions like home detention, earlier curfew or more meetings.

It's a boot camp of sorts, offering its own lessons for survival. The St.
Charles County Family Court plans to enroll its first families this month
into a new Juvenile Drug Court, the 15th in the state, the second in the
metropolitan area (St. Louis started its juvenile drug court in 1998) and
one of the many cropping up across the country to help teen-agers with more
severe drug and alcohol problems.

"I think really, honestly, it's fairly impressive that St. Charles is
jumping on this opportunity as quickly as they have, because it's kind of a
cutting-edge program," said Randy Koch, who will work with the drug court
as a treatment provider for Bridgeway Counseling Services Inc.

While activities will wind down as a teen-ager and his family go through
the program, Family Court Administrator Ray Grush doesn't deny it takes a
major commitment. "I think the issue is, 'What is the family committed
to?'" Grush said. "If you really want something bad enough, you'll commit
to it."

Seeing a need to help teens with more serious drug and alcohol problems, a
committee began meeting in October 2000 to plan the Juvenile Drug Court.
The court estimates that of the 400 or so juveniles who come through the
system formally, 150 have a fairly high risk of abusing drugs or alcohol.
Most of those kids would benefit from a four-week anti-drug program that
the courts began offering last year, but it's the remaining few who could
use the intensity of a drug court.

The court hopes to help about 50 juveniles and their families over the next
three years, but for now, it hopes to interview its first two or three
families by the end of this month. The court has $33,000 in grants from the
office of state courts administrator and the state Division of Youth
Services, and it will find out in April if it will get a $500,000 grant
from the U.S. Department of Justice to support the court for the next three
years.

The drug court committee estimates that a teen who is fully committed to
the program can complete it in eight months, but the average teen and
family will need about a year. The committee predicts that 80 percent of
the teens participating will reduce their dependency on drugs and alcohol,
and 60 percent will not be referred to the court. The teens will be from 12
to 16 years old.

This is how it works: A teen-ager is initially screened by a deputy
juvenile officer, and those who show a "red flag" on an evaluation will get
a clinical evaluation by a treatment professional. The findings are given
to a Juvenile Drug Court operations team, which decides whether the teen
will be admitted.

The Juvenile Drug Court judge explains the demands of the program as well
as the services it offers to the teen and his or her family. At first, the
court expects to work with agencies it knows and has worked with in the
past: Bridgeway Counseling and Preferred Family Healthcare's C-Star
program. The court is looking at more agencies throughout the county.

The program has four phases: The first three rely heavily on treatment,
with the teen and his or her family going to individual therapy,
educational programs and group counseling. The demands in the first phase
are the strongest, and as the teens move on, they will go to fewer therapy
sessions and classes. The fourth phase, called "aftercare," is one in which
the teen is encouraged to get more help and stay involved in school and the
community. The family is encouraged to think about its relationships and
communicate better.

The teen-agers need a minimum of 60 days free of drugs and alcohol to
graduate, and even though they will be officially released from the
program, they will be encouraged to stay in touch with the court and
support other teens and families going through it.

The planners of the St. Charles County Juvenile Drug Court hope the success
will reach beyond teens with drug problems.

"I honestly believe that the approach for the drug court is going to be the
approach that all juvenile cases will eventually follow," said John Smith,
who will be the legal counsel for the drug court and will keep computer
databases of the progress of teen-agers in the program. "If somebody comes
in because they stole something, we may place them on probation and send
them to a program that deals with shoplifting. But we don't treat why they
stole, whether there are other factors in the family that could be
addressed and should be addressed. It is a much more holistic approach to
families with problems.

"This is a small step , but I think it's a small step in the right direction."