SAVING A CHILD VIA DRUG COURT IS WORTH THE COST

Every parent whose child is a drug user feels alone, ashamed and
virtually helpless. No longer is it the child from the broken home,
the one who is doing poorly in school, who is stigmatized by race,
economic level or weak self-esteem. It has very little to do with
parental levels of education, professional status or even their skill
of parenting. Today's children are exposed to drugs just by living in
our society.

My errant daughter was given a choice of spending time in juvenile
prison or joining Juvenile Drug Court. At first, I refused because I
did not think it could help her. Hearing the rigors of the program, I
knew she would have a difficult time conforming to its restrictions.
It also meant a great time and energy commitment on my part. I was,
however, at my wit's end. To refuse meant I had given up on my child.
Out of love for my daughter, I agreed with the extra supervision, the
weekly trip for drug testing and the weekly appearance in Drug Court.

Hillary Clinton wrote a book called "It Takes a Village to Raise a
Child." Well, if your child is on drugs, that village cannot be
contained in just family ties or school personnel. It takes everything
that our society can muster because it is a significant problem in the
greater circle of society. Parents cannot do it alone. It takes the
efforts of so many supporting each other. From social workers to
probation officers to judges to the Legislature, everyone works very
hard for the greater good. When my child joined Juvenile Drug Court, I
felt like a tight-rope walker who finally had a safety net below me.
Drug Court helped me, as the parent, by giving me the safest ways and
support I needed to help my daughter. Not only the "official" workers
helped, but also the other parents.

After weeks seeing each other, the parents formed an unstructured
group of people going through very similar trials. Waiting outside for
court to begin, we would talk to each other, cry with each other and
find comfort in knowing that we were not alone in our struggle to
raise our children.

Today my daughter is a young adult. She still loves the attentive
workers in Drug Court and respects Judge R. Mark Browning, who laid
down the law for her. I, too, have deep respect and abiding affection
for everything they did for us.

I know that the state of Hawaii has tremendous fiscal problems. I also
know that cutting programs is logical. But I would hope that the
Legislature can see that the cost of helping our children and families
is of immediate importance. What is the cost of saving a child? I ask
the governing powers to please find the resources to continue a quiet
but effective program whose true works reach out to the future within
our society. Please sustain and build Juvenile Drug Court.

The Rev. Colleen Chun is a resident of Mililani.