Statewide program redesign in works to reunite families faster-How about NH?

Statewide program redesign in works to reunite families faster - News

DAYTONA BEACH -- Spending time playing with her three children is a luxury for Nicole DiCologero and something she's learned not to take for granted.

That wasn't always the case for the Daytona Beach mother who struggled with crack cocaine and prescription-drug abuse. The addiction resulted in her children being removed in May 2009 and placed in foster care.

Her 4-year-old daughter was with her in treatment, and her 5-year-old returned in December after 18 months. Her 2-year-old son returned home permanently Friday after being in foster care most of his life.

It's been a long road of residential substance-abuse treatment, family drug court, outpatient counseling and parenting classes.

"It's the worst feeling in the world," DiCologero said about being separated from her children. "It was like a part of me was missing. Having somebody else raise my kids was not a good feeling."

But she also knew she was living a life her children shouldn't see, adding: "I wasn't there for them emotionally."

About 70 percent of local child-welfare cases that are high-risk for children being removed are due to prescription-substance abuse, according to Mark Jones, chief executive officer of Community Partnership for Children, the local foster care provider.

In the past several months, the numbers of children being removed from their parents is also increasing compared to the same period last year, Jones said, because of prescription-drug abuse. For example, 46 children were removed during December in Volusia, Flagler and Putnam counties compared to 31 the previous year.

The problem has prompted new programs as part of a statewide foster-care redesign initiative to get treatment and services to parents more quickly.

Reggie Williams, local administrator for the state Department of Children & Families, said prescription-drug abuse on top of crack cocaine and alcohol "is complicating the system and making it more difficult as far as how you address the needs of these families."

Community Partnership for Children has started several new programs working with area substance-abuse-treatment agencies for both outpatient and inpatient treatment.

Williams said the agencies are trying to get parents "into treatment quicker and get the family stabilized in hopes of returning the kids" more quickly.

Jones said some of the programs, which started at the end of last year, have already had an impact on lowering the amount of time children are in foster care. Last year, the average amount of time children were in foster care was 10 to 12 months. That number recently has been decreasing to eight months, Jones said.

"The whole foster-care redesign is based on getting people services they need immediately so there is not a wait," Jones said.

A $244,000 contract with Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare has outpatient detox counselors and family-intervention specialists helping parents. Previously, parents had to wait for counseling or a space to open. Jones said, now, a family-intervention specialist responds to the family within 24 hours of a call to the state abuse hotline.

Chet Bell, CEO of Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare, said prescription drugs such as pain pills can be highly addicting, and, in some cases, people who were legitimately taking the medicine have become dependent.

The counselors are able to work exclusively with the child-welfare clients. A new program that started in January with Haven Recovery Center is also providing parents involved in the child-welfare system with immediate access to residential substance-abuse treatment.

Randy Croy, executive director of Haven Recovery Center, said the program will help stop the cycle of child abuse and neglect, and "children will be safer and be able to live healthier, productive lives."

Another program is also providing intensive after-care services through Children's Home Society when children return home.

DiCologero received help from numerous agencies since 2009, but she may have been able to get her children home more quickly if the new programs had been in place previously, officials said.

She had been addicted to cocaine since she was a teen, she said, and problems with pain pills started after a surgery and a separate back injury.

She's now set to graduate drug court in May and receives counseling once a week. She soon will be in training to be an assistant manager at her job at a local doughnut shop and is living in a rented home with help through Haven Recovery Center and a federal assistance program.

Her husband, who does not live with her, is only able to see the children on supervised visits until he finishes treatment, child-welfare officials said.

Annette Gerardi, drug-court case manager for Community Partnership for Children, said DiCologero has come far and is "now placing her children first and her sobriety. The changes in her life are tremendous."

After already getting her GED in November, she's planning to go to Daytona State College in the summer to become an addiction specialist to help others.

"I know where they are coming from, and I know how to deal with it," DiCologero said. "If I can just help one person out of a thousand, I'm doing my job."