Drug Court Donations

Susan is involved in a drug court, which follows national models and provides a collaborative and therapeutic treatment model to parents struggling with substance abuse.  The Department of Human Services partners with mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, spending a considerable bit more money on treatment in a push to reunite children with their families much earlier than a typical dependency and neglect case.  The idea is to put that funding into treatment and keep families together or to reunite families more quickly rather than use those funds to keep children lingering in foster care.  This program has been very successful and parents are encouraged to bring their children to court.  The team (judge, magistrate, Department of Human Services, mental health, attorneys for children, and attorneys for parents) likes to hand out coloring books and crayons to the children when they come to court.  The children get to keep the coloring books and crayons, so donations would be very helpful.  You can find really cheap ones at Dollar Stores!

1.  coloring books

2.  crayons

3.  story books 

4.  art project supplies: packs of poster board, markers, etc.  (Part of drug court is giving parents immediate sanctions for missed drug tests, missed treatment, etc.  One excellent sanction is having parents make posters about their substance abuse treatment, their relationships with their children, etc.  The judge hangs them in the court room and they're really a neat part of court.)

5.  two digital cameras-- can be gently used!  (One camera would be for in court when parents graduate or when children come to court dressed up for Halloween and another would be for the office where we do treatment support meetings and visits between parents and their children.)

6.  gift certificates to grocery stores for snacks for drug court graduations (a huge deal because these parents go through tons of treatment, meetings, hours and hours of services, and we really make a big effort to celebrate their graduations).