PROGRAM HELPS MOMS GET OFF DRUGS, KEEP THEIR CHILDREN

A Jackson County program is getting addicted mothers off drugs and allowing
them to keep their children, early results show.

The Family Drug Court program gives addicted mothers a choice: Complete a
18- to 24-month treatment program or their children are freed for adoption.

In 1998, Jackson County was among three counties nationwide that received
$50,000 federal grants to start the experimental approach.

Now, more than 50 families -- sometimes mothers and fathers together --
have graduated from the program. Each mother had two to six children. That
means more than 200 children will not go into state foster care to await
adoption, Drug Court Commissioner Molly Merrigan said.

Merrigan said only two of the graduates have relapsed and 53 mothers are
still in the program, which will continue.

"We're in this for the long haul," she said.

Other jurisdictions are starting family drug courts.

A family drug court beginning in St. Louis this month will be the third in
Missouri, and at least four counties are in the planning stages, state
officials said.

That meshes with a national trend. The first Family Drug Court was in 1994
in Reno, Nev. There now are more than 30 such courts nationwide and 50 in
the planning stages.

In Jackson County, women are quickly forced into the program when hospital
tests show they gave birth to a drug-exposed baby. A criminal charge of
child endangerment also is filed against them if it is their second
drug-exposed baby or more.

With the threat of child loss, prison or both, the women start seeing
Merrigan frequently in court meetings. Mothers get intensive drug
treatment, as well as help with education, counseling, housing and child care.

They also get constant attention from social workers who act almost like
probation officers. Gradually, lives get rebuilt, Merrigan said.

Graduates who hated the program at its start now sometimes drop by to thank
her for it, Merrigan said. They are sober and working.

Merrigan said there are other things about the program that delight her,
including one simple thing she has learned not to take for granted.

"In the program so far we've had seven drug-free babies."