By TAYLOR STUCK
The Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As West Virginia sees success of adult and juvenile drug courts to rehabilitate drug offenders with substance use disorder, a bill to create family drug courts has passed the first hurdle in the Legislature.
The House of Delegates on Thursday passed House Bill 2686, which will allow the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to create a family drug treatment court pilot program in at least four circuits.
The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare suggests that a well-functioning family drug court program brings together substance use disorder treatment, child welfare services, mental health and social services agencies in a nonadversarial approach. Family drug courts seek to provide safe environments for children, intensive judicial monitoring, and interventions to treat parents’ substance use disorders and other co-occurring risk factors.
See more from The Herald-Dispatch