by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Duval County judicial system is getting another tool in the fight against drugs. Early next month, the dependency drug court program will be implemented. Led by Joe Stelma, chief deputy court administrator of the Fourth Judicial Circuit Drug Courts and Circuit Court judges Linda McCallum and Gregg McCaulie, dependency drug court will serve as a complement to the already existing juvenile and adult drug courts. The difference, says Stelma, is that dependency drug court isn’t about punishing drug and alcohol abusers.
“These are parents who are not facing jail or criminal charges,” said Stelma, who’s been involved in drug court since 1995. “The only reward is they get their kids back. That’s a pretty big deal.”
In juvenile drug court, young drug abusers are dealt with in a variety of ways. Judges and court administrators try everything from counseling to rehabilitation to incarceration — or a combination of the three. According to Stelma, those methods only go so far with teenagers.
“Those kids think they know what they’re doing. They think they are invincible,” said Stelma. “They are a tough nut to crack.”
Adults without children, or those without custody, sentenced to adult drug court often find themselves at the lowest point of their lives.
“They are burnt out and tired,” said Stelma. “They have lost everything and they are usually facing jail.”
Dependency court, everyone agrees, will address the needs of a group currently being overlooked. The program, which will start with 12 cases during the first week of arraignments in May, has proven successful in Escambia, Dade and Hillsborough counties.
The concept is fairly simple, but the four-phase program is designed to treat the parents gradually, but steadily. The program addresses substance abuse education, counseling and urinalysis.
Both McCallum and McCaulie will handle six cases which will be assigned to General Masters Lester Bass and Kathryn Sands-Boone. Participants will then enter rehab at either River Region Human Resources or Gateway Community Services intensive outpatient program schedule.
Between case managers and counselors, participants will undergo a lengthy and exhaustive program designed to get them clean and sober, employed and in a position to stay clean and sober and employed. Stelma, McCallum and McCaulie all believe the lure of getting their children back will be strong enough to keep the participants in the program from start to finish and beyond.
“This will be an intensive program where they will go through substance abuse therapy and treatment, whether that’s N.A. [Narcotics Anonymous] or A.A. [Alcoholics Anonymous],” said McCaulie. “They will be required to appear in court [in front of Bass or Sands-Boone] every week for us to see how they are progressing.
“Since their kids have been taken, we’ll propose they participate in dependency court. That’ll be an incentive and an opportunity to reunite with their children.”
McCallum and McCaulie are already involved in drug court and see this program as a logical extension of their jobs. McCallum said the program in Pensacola [Escambia County] is the model for Duval’s.
“It appears to be successful,” said McCallum. “A lot of parents are losing their kids because of drugs. In adult drug court, they all come in believing they will do whatever it takes. Then they get back in real life and the stresses become too much and they find themselves dependent on drugs again. They fall away because there’s no one pushing them and there’s no follow up program. We hope this program is successful. There will be constant positive reinforcement, but if there are negative issues there will be immediate penalties.”
Financially, the program couldn’t be better. Between Gateway, River Region and Family Support Services of North Florida, the Fourth Circuit won’t have to shell out a dime. Stelma says the true value of the program to successful participants, however, is immeasurable.
“We’ll save a lot of money down the line by not having children in foster care for so long,” he said, adding the courts will benefit also with shorter drug-related dockets. “You can’t calculate how much money that can save.”