Officials talk about rising cost of drugs in DFCS, juvenile court
Officials hope they can get helping hands from the community to tackle a continuing problem for children who find themselves separated from their parents.
The Polk County Rotary Club hosted a group of officials during an August meeting in Rockmart to talk about the need for greater levels of substance abuse and mental health treatment within the family court system, and the grant they’ve received to help make that happen.
Polk-Haralson Juvenile Court Judge Mark Murphy was joined by State Rep. Trey Kelley (R-16th District) and several other officials from a new court within the Juvenile Court system and the Department of Family and Children’s Services to talk about the problem. That included Robin Forston and Tony Taylor from DFCS, and Accountability Court coordinator Jenny Lee.
The also addressed how they’ll be implementing a new Accountability Court within the Juvenile Court system locally to help increase the number of reunifications of families who are separated because of substance abuse or mental health issues.
For good reason. Figures provided by Robin Forston, the DFCS Region 3 recruiter for foster and adoptive homes, put the number of family separations due to substance abuse at 70 percent of all cases going through the Juvenile Court system between the two counties.
The hope is with the accountability court in place, it will reduce the number of separations and thus reduce the need for DFCS case managers to get involved.
It also seeks to reduce the overall cost to the community, and improve the quality of life for children by providing the ability for those children to potentially find a home in Polk County instead of having to be moved elsewhere.
As of press time, some 133 children were reported in the foster care system and only 24 homes to serve those youth.
Those who have the ability and want to help these children find homes to stay in locally can contact Forston for more information by calling 404895-6517 or robin.forston@ dhs.ga.gov.