GREENFIELD — “Another piece in the puzzle” of fighting the opioid abuse epidemic fell into place Friday afternoon with the official opening of the state’s first Family Drug Court.
That new piece, according to Judge Beth A. Crawford, who will preside over the court, is intended to fill a hole in the region’s support structure for parents who become addicted and end up in family court.
Addiction affects families and children, at times entering custody battles with non-custodial parents and often grandparents who feel their child’s living arrangements threaten their safety.
The new court — seen as another groundbreaking move pioneered by the local Opioid Task Force to cope with the national addiction crisis — was officially launched Friday afternoon during a celebration at Greenfield Community College.
Crawford said it will give families who find themselves involved in such cases — which have increased steadily over recent years — the opportunity to voluntarily enter a court-overseen treatment program while the underlying custody case is put on hold.
Paula Carey, the chief justice of the state’s Trial Court, said she hopes the Franklin County Family Drug Court will become a model for the rest of the state and the nation.
Carey said she is convinced Franklin County’s long history of forward-thinking approaches to criminal justice and addiction make it the ideal community to test the new program.
“Drug courts make a difference. We see people coming in in droves, some criminally involved but many not criminally involved,” Carey said. “In the criminal context, substance abuse is a root cause behind much criminal behavior. We hope to get to them first, but that’s not always possible. It’s something we can’t allow to continue.”
“Nothing is more important in the fight against addiction than to make our families whole,” said Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan, a founding member of the regional Opioid Task Force which has driven the push to establish the new court. “Now this piece of the puzzle is there, and hopefully as that puzzle takes shape, what we’ll see is a Franklin County without young people dying with needles in their arms; a Franklin County without the scourge of addiction.”
Crawford noted the profound effect that addiction can have on families, and said federal substance abuse standards dating back to 1995 have shown that substance abusers are typically more responsive to entering treatment when facing the loss of custody of their children.
If participants elect to enter the Family Drug Court, she said, they would be required to participate in local self-help groups multiple times per week, submit to random drug screenings, appear regularly before the court to report on their progress, and work with a recovery coach to address their problem.
The pilot program will be operated by the Franklin County Family and Probate Court. Similar programs have been underway in the county’s criminal courts for years.
“It’s an empirically proven model that’s being used in criminal drug courts across the country, but this is the first time we’re using it in family court,” she said.
“The opioid crisis is heart-wrenching,” she continued, relaying a story about a grandmother who came before her court seeking custody of her granddaughter after the child’s mother died of an overdose. “We, as a court, need to be part of the response to this problem.”
The event’s keynote address was delivered by state Attorney General Maura Healey. She was introduced by Register of Probate John Merrigan and District Attorney David E. Sullivan, other founding members of the Opioid Task Force.
Sullivan noted Healey had met with members of the Task Force before she was elected. Healey said she recognized that the opioid crisis would be a priority issue.
“I wanted to learn as much as I could about this issue, so this is where I came and started to get schooled, and I continue to get schooled,” she said. “It’s to the benefit of the commonwealth to have your expertise.”
Healey said the court would provide support moving forward for families which have “emptied everything” or “been broken apart” trying to help a loved one suffering from addiction.
“This is about recognition of what happens to one family member happens to all family members,” she said.
“This is a winning formula, and I hope it grows across the commonwealth, and takes hold across the country,” Healey said of the new court.
State Probation Commissioner Edward Dolan also noted Franklin County and the Opioid Task Force’s role in reacting early, and swiftly, to the addiction crisis.
“This community, like no other, came together to stop the opioid epidemic, reaching out across governments, disciplines and traditional roles to act collectively,” Dolan said. “(The Family Drug Court) is one more component in the community effort necessary for the complex response this requires. This is largely uncharted territory and it speaks to gravity of this situation.”
Drug treatment courts, he said, typically serve as gateways to connect drug addicts to the wider spectrum of treatment services available. Coordinating drug courts with these wrap-around services, he said, provides recovering addicts with their best chance for success.
“A multi-agency, multidisciplinary effort is crucial to the challenges we face,” he said.