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Rural Courts Helping Juveniles Caught in Drug Epidemic
By Csaba Sukosd
May 31, 2019
As Ohio’s opioid crisis continues to grow, so are the number of courts
across the state addressing the issue, including the youth affected in
some of the smaller communities.
Thirty years after the nation’s first drug court was instituted in
Florida, the number of specialized dockets in Ohio focused on treatment
for juveniles has grown to 25 with the majority of those in counties
with populations around or below 100,000.
“Ninety-five percent of our kids, they’re a product of their
environment,” said Khrystal Wagner, the treatment court coordinator for
Hardin County Juvenile Court. “That’s the biggest struggle is trying to
get around what they’ve always known, and what they’ve always been
taught, and trying to understand that, and then trying to see how do we
overcome that.”
Wagner has served in that role for 13 years with the past six working
with juvenile and probate court Judge Steve Christopher. The lifelong
Hardin County resident served as a trial attorney for 30 years with no
juvenile work on his resume and very little exposure to drug courts
prior to his election in 2013.
“It was eye-opening for me. It was totally different than I thought it
was,” Judge Christopher said. “It didn’t take more than two months
before I started feeling like these were my kids.”
In most of his cases, the children are raised by a single parent or
guardian. The same can be said for Knox County Judge Jay Nixon’s
juvenile treatment court. The judges, their staff, and the treatment
providers do their best to help with the load by establishing a support
system for all the family’s needs.
“It provides for some of these kids who haven’t had structure, who
haven’t had accountability in their life, it gives them that
accountability,” said Judge Nixon. “We provide them with a
reward-sanction system that a lot of kids just thrive in.”
As the participants progress through each phase of the program, their
mandatory court appearances and supervision decrease. However, with
more freedom comes more responsibility. In Hardin County, the court
puts an emphasis on not only advancing their education as part of their
maturation, but also establishing employment.
“If they get connected to an employer, and it’s something they like,
the reality is that they might stay with it, and they might develop
another group of people they can confide in,” said Wade Melton, who’s
the director of programs for Hardin County Juvenile Court.
While there are numerous success stories, not everyone graduates from
the programs. The strife also isn’t exclusive to the affected children
and their families.
Stress and disappointment are common occurrences for those who work in
treatment courts. For them, it’s a reminder of the hardships the kids
face and the purpose of their profession.
“Once I started working in it, I realized that this is where I need to
be,” said Wagner. “Helping families, helping kids, helping people get
over whatever hurdles they need to be getting over.”
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