Harrison County launching court program to help parents with drug problems

BILOXI -- Harrison County will launch a family drug court -- just the third in the state -- aimed at parents struggling with drug problems who have children in the Department of Human Services system.

The county will receive a $65,000 reimbursement from the state to hire a therapist for drug treatment and for drug testing.

Youth Court Judge Margaret Alfonso didn't immediately have specific numbers on how many parents in Harrison County's youth court system suffered from drug addiction but said it was a high percentage.

"It's not just the taxpayer savings this would bring," she said. "It's about the human toll."

Getting parents help earlier could prevent their children from being taken into foster care or could help children more quickly return to their parents, Alfonso said.

Within weeks of receiving word the county would get the money, the program is already half full and officials expected it to be completely filled in the next few weeks.

They plan to start slow, with 10 or 15 participants, and scale up to 30 once the program is up and running.

"Unless you're caught up in this, you don't realize how limited the resources are," Alfonso said.

Drug courts -- for youth, adults and families -- have been proving successful across the country, studies have shown. The programs, which place a focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration, are costly but provide long-term savings, the research shows.

Harrison County only received the grant for one year but officials hope a year of success will lead to additional funding in the future.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Harrison County launching court program to help parents with drug problems ."