TO TEST ADDICTION EFFORT

LUMBERTON -- Robeson County will be the site for a pilot program to
help families stay together while parents try to beat their drug
habits. The program, called Robeson County Bridges for Families, will
be funded by a $2.5 million federal grant awarded to the state
Division of Social Services. The state agency was among 53 recipients
nationwide to receive a grant to promote safe and stable families.

State officials announced the grant Tuesday at the Lumbee Tribe
Soaring Eagle Community Building.

Robeson County was chosen for the pilot program because of the
disproportionate number of cases among blacks and American Indians
where substance abuse was a factor in the abuse or neglect of
children, state officials said. Last year, American Indians accounted
for more than half of the child welfare cases where substance abuse
was a factor in abuse or neglect, said Laura Elmore, program
coordinator with the state Division of Social Services.

The county also has the infrastructure in place to provide services
immediately. State officials have three months to begin the program,
Elmore said. "Because we had such a short turnaround, we had to find a
place that could be expanded as opposed to starting a brand-new
facility, and Grace Courts fit that bill," Elmore said.

Grace Courts is a temporary housing facility for women substance
abusers and their children. State officials plan to expand services at
the housing complex. Eight apartments will be converted to licensed
treatment facilities for residents. There, clients will have access to
inpatient treatment, therapy for children and outpatient services.
Fathers will have access to intensive outpatient services and will be
able to come in and take part in activities that are
family-centered.

The services will begin in January. There also are plans to establish
a Family Drug Treatment Court, where judges support parents going
through recovery. There is a similar court in Durham. The court helps
provide services to help the parent or caregiver stay off drugs.

The court is expected to start in March. Court officials are looking
forward to the program, District Court Judge Stanley Carmical said.
Carmical was apprehensive about the program because it marks a new way
of doing business for judges, he said. "Judges, traditionally, have
not been that good at building people up and encouraging people. And
that is an important part of this grant, is to encourage folks, to
build families up and keep them together," Carmical said. "Normally,
when you try to gauge the success of what court does, it is in really
intangible ways. If someone is in court and we don't see them later,
it may just mean that they have gotten better at what they do. But,
here, we will have some standard to measure the court's success by the
number of families, the number of children that we keep together." Not
only does the program build relationships among families, Carmical
said, it also builds relationships of agencies involved in the
project. "This is not about staking out turf," he said. "It is about
working together for people." Sherry Bradsher, director of the state
Department of Social Services, said the project is a great opportunity
for Robeson County. "What we do with this grant can change this county
greatly and save the next generation of children," she said.