by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The smiles got brighter and the tears flowed freely during Thursday’s graduation ceremony over on Beach Boulevard.
Nearly two dozen classmates vowed to continue helping each other. The graduates, in turn, promised to keep supporting each other — and anyone else who might need a helping hand.
Graduating from this program means a lot more than getting a pat on the back and a smartly designed certificate. Some of the participants get a second chance at a good life gone bad; some get to experience a life better than any they’ve known.
And they all have a chance to get their children back.
Participants in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Dependency Drug Court are there because their addictions have cost them custody of their children, said Joseph Stelma Jr., chief deputy court administrator.
The clients in the voluntary program are assessed by Gateway Community Services or River Region Human Services. If they are accepted, they may be placed in out-patient or in-patient treatment, depending on the severity of the addiction.
“They get tested twice a week for drugs,” said Stelma. “If they stay clean, get the parenting skills and get jobs, custody of their children can be given back to them.”
Stelma is also coordinator of the city’s adult and juvenile drug courts.
For the most part, the procedure begins downtown at the Duval County Courthouse, said Circuit Court Judge W. Gregg McCaulie, the circuit judge of dependency.
“It starts out at the first appearance where the children are taken,” he said. “There’s a first hearing to determine whether to keep them in shelter care or with a relative.
“At that point, we try to have the decision made whether they’re going to be evaluated for the Dependency Drug Court. Two weeks later, they come back. Hopefully, by then, they’ve already started.”
When they first sign up for the program, clients have to make weekly appearances before General Master Lester Bass at Courthouse 51 in the old Southgate Plaza on Beach Blvd.
“They have to see me and let me know what their progress is,” said Bass. “We go over what problems they’re having, try to correct those problems, make things happen for them and make sure they’re on the right track.”
Clients may stay in the program for a year. Some have completed it in five to six months, Bass said.
In addition to the graduates, their family members, current clients and service providers, Thursday’s proceedings were observed by a group of visiting judges, treatment providers and case workers from five states — New York, Washington, Maryland, Ohio and Texas.
“They’ve come here to learn how to set up a Dependency Drug Court in their community,” said Stelma. “They come here to see the program we have.
The visitors undoubtedly kept a close eye on the program’s cost as well as its effectiveness.
“We don’t depend on federal dollars anymore,” Stelma said. “We live off community dollars and fine money.”
Ten cities, with 10 to 15 people per city, were represented.
“We’re a mentor site as set forth by the National Drug Court Institute and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals,” Stelma explained. “And our adult and juvenile drug courts are sanctioned by the Department of Justice.”
Present for each session — providing updates and making recommendations — are staffers from Gateway, River Region, daniel, Mental Health Resource Center, Jewish Family Community Services, the Jacksonville Youth Sanctuary, the Boys Home Association and Operation New Hope.
The visitors not only got to see how the Dependency Drug Court works. They heard how many of the clients have been affected.
One young woman beamed when told she had made enough progress to begin in-patient treatment. Another jumped for joy when she heard she would be allowed to see her daughter in three days.
At a minimum, Bass asked each client three questions: What had their lives been like before treatment, what was it like during treatment and what plans they had for the future.
He encouraged applause for those who had made encouraging improvement and showed a determination to turn their lives around.
“It was kind of hell,” said one graduate of her life before she went into the program. “I was maintaining, but I wasn’t living right.”
“I learned by being here to have some integrity, to maintain my sobriety,” said another graduate. “I never want to see the pain in my family’s face again.
“If you’ve ever been in a dark room when the light came on, you don’t want to go back into the dark. I don’t ever want to be in the dark again.”
There are plenty of parents in the community who are on drugs but not taking part in the Dependency Drug Court program, Bass pointed out:
“They can continue to use so long as they test negative somehow. They can get their kids back. Down the road, though, the neglect, the abuse and abandonment is going to occur again.
“But here, we give them intense supervision, make sure they’re off the drugs, and those problems don’t happen. We’re really trying to make it a lifestyle change forever so they don’t ever have to come back.”