DRUG COURT TAKES ON PARENTAL ROLE

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- One boy got glasses.
A girl saw a doctor. Another boy went to jail for 48 hours.

All of them are randomly tested for drugs at least once a
week.

It's court-style parenting through the Richland County Juvenile Drug
Court, a program that's an alternative to jail for nonviolent young
offenders whose past includes a fateful mix of alcohol and drugs,
irresponsible mischief and family chaos.

The Juvenile Drug Court is patterned after a program for adults in
both Richland and Lexington counties. The program aims to help
nonviolent criminals sober up so they can retire from law-breaking
exploits that have become as much a habit as their drug.

But the youth drug court -- one of two in South Carolina counting a
similar program in Charleston -- is different.

Besides being in arms reach of the law, the clients must accept a
"wraparound" of services that help them make smart decisions about
sobriety, school, work, behavior and family. Their parents also must
be involved in group meetings and accompany their children to court;
sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month.

Last week marked the first anniversary of the program, a project of
the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services and the 5th
Circuit Solicitor's Office. The program is funded by $140,000 in block
grants from the department.

Only young people between 12 and 17 years old who are charged with
nonviolent, drug-related crimes such as vandalism, simple possession
of marijuana, or underage drinking are considered for the program.

Potential drug court clients are first identified through the
solicitor's office. People are accepted into the program based on
their age and offense, as well as parental consent, and an assessment
of drug and alcohol use and other problems.

Then, instead of facing a traditional trial when they plead guilty,
the youths enter an intensive nine-to 12-month program of drug
treatment, 12-step programs, family counseling and court
appearances.

"They're busy with us for four or five days a week, and they're with
us for as long as a year," said Katherine Yandle Thornton, the program
liaison for the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.
"Hopefully it sticks after we're gone."

One recent graduates said staying busy has improved his grades and his
thinking.

"Once my blood got cleared of the drug, I could look at other people
and see where they were going wrong," said the teen, accepted into the
drug court with weapons and drug charges.

"Now, I'm trying to keep strong in my mind that I won't use
(marijuana), that there's no reason to use," he said. "Since I
stopped, I find better days."

So far, about 80 people have been screened for the program and 30
accepted.

The program's first phase requires clients to appear in court every
Monday for four months. They also have treatment three nights a week.

Phase 2 brings bimonthly court dates and biweekly treatment sessions.
Clients also either see or talk by phone to a case manager every day.

The last phase comes after about nine months. It includes court
sessions once a month and treatment once a week.

Graduation comes after about a year for those who have done what they
were supposed to do.

The program also has provided an alternative for Family Court Judge
Bruce Williams, who has grown frustrated during three years on the
bench because there was no middle ground in sentencing young
offenders, only jail or probation.

"I've got an option now I didn't have before," said Williams, the
judge who oversees the Juvenile Drug Court. "This is that in-between
step for when it's not so clear cut."

Before court each week Williams meets with a group that includes a
public defender, a probation officer with the Department of Juvenile
Justice, assistant solicitors and counselors with the
Lexington-Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council.

During that meeting, each case is discussed to determine how the
clients are doing at home and at school or work. Drug test results
also are reviewed. Williams uses the information to determine whether
sanctions or kudos are in order when court starts.

Here's some of what has happened as a result:

The group discovered one boy's grades suffered because he couldn't see
well in class, a possibility mentioned by one of his teachers during a
visit by the boy's case manager. The boy, 16, following Williams'
order, now has a new pair of glasses and sits in front of the class.

To determine whether a girl in the program was truly ill or falling
into a pattern of lying typical of young people with drug problems,
Williams sent her to a doctor. The doctor discovered a viral infection
and prescribed an antibiotic.

When another 16-year-old boy tested positive for a small amount of
marijuana, a counselor recommended he be reminded that the program is
serious. Williams agreed and sentenced the teen to a weekend in jail.
The sentence came after Williams gave the boy a chance to acknowledge
his error. "I don't know how it got in my system," the boy told
Williams in court last Monday.

Other clients have been ordered to buy an alarm clock to get to school
on time; be home by 8 p.m.; complete community service projects; rake
leaves for extra money; and write a two-page paper answering the
question, "Why should you respect authority?"

At the same time, Williams has started rounds of applause for
offenders who do well, and given movie passes and fast-food coupons to
those who do even better.

The goal ultimately is to provide discipline and promote
responsibility. When they're released from the court, that charge is
given back to the parents.

"Parents are learning to do some of the same things I'm doing to help
them make good parenting decisions," Williams said. `We've seen some major
turnarounds," she said. "And it's a tough program. Probation would be
easier; not to have to do anything but stay out of trouble.

"It's about the toughest thing they can be involved in and that's why
it's effective."

Drug Court Road isn't always smooth for the young offenders or their
parents, who have realized long ago that their child's behavior and
drug problems were beyond their control.

"It was tearing me and my wife apart," the father of a 16-year-old in
Phase 1 of the drug court said. "It is a constant emotional war going
records, neither they nor their parents are identified here.

Since entering the program in October, his son's behavior has included
more respect for authority, no alcohol use -- except one relapse --
and higher grades.

The man said he's learned through the drug court program that school
grades and attendance are benchmarks parents can use to determine
what's going on in their child's life.

"We don't have to follow him around," he said. "We can just watch his
grades."

The drug court program has helped the boys' parents learn to be better
parents.

His son agreed.

"It's about you and the people around you making an impression on you
so you change yourself," said the boy, whom Williams sent to jail for
a weekend for being expelled from school his second week in the program.

"Nobody can teach somebody how to be a good person," he
said.

That must come from the inside out, the teen said. Rather than do
something wrong that he knows he won't get caught doing, "I don't do
it anyway," he said.

Instead, he said he thinks about the judge, his counselor, his
parents. "It kind of sticks in your mind that way," he said.