Craven County approves $275,470 to start sobriety treatment and recovery teams program

Craven County commissioners on Monday approved a $275,470 budget amendment to implement the START (Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams) program, a state-funded initiative intended to speed substance use disorder treatment for parents and support child safety.

Social Services presenter Jeff Merritt told the board the department won a competitive grant from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services that will fund START in Craven County. Merritt said the grant will cover most startup costs and that the county will contract with Easterseals for family mentors and service coordination. “If they opt out of START program, we're still mandated to provide child welfare services, so they just would go through the regular service, resource referral,” Merritt said during questions from commissioners.

The county will use an intensive, team-based model. Each START case is managed by a dyad: a county social worker, a family mentor hired by the contractor, and a supervisor. Family mentors are people with lived experience in recovery who provide daily support and “warm handoffs” to treatment, including driving clients to initial intensive outpatient sessions when needed. The START timeline calls for rapid action: assessments and initiation of treatment within weeks (the state’s timeline gives 45 days for key assessments), and an expected program participation window of roughly 12–18 months per family.

Merritt described program goals as increasing parental capacity, reducing out-of-home placements and repeat maltreatment, and improving case closure to permanency. He cited peer jurisdictions’ results, saying that in some START implementations more than 75% of families either remain with or reunify with parents, and that published estimates show a return on investment (about $2.22 saved for every $1 spent) when foster care numbers decline.

The county will start the program with two START workers (caseload target about 10 START families per worker, or roughly 20 families at full capacity). Merritt said the grant runs on a federal fiscal-year schedule (the grant period the presenter cited runs through Sept. 30, 2025) and that some program salary costs may be reimbursed through the award; other contract costs will pass through the county to Easterseals for services and family-mentor staffing.

Merritt said Child and Family Futures will provide technical assistance and fidelity monitoring as part of the grant. He also described relapse protocols: a positive drug screen triggers immediate assessment, a safety meeting and expedited team coordination to decide whether a child’s placement must change and what additional treatment steps are required.

Commissioners voted to approve the budget amendment after a motion and second; the roll call recorded all present commissioners voting yes. Merritt said the county will execute its contract with Easterseals and begin hiring family mentors and service coordinators as soon as contracts are in place.

Questions from commissioners addressed opt-out procedures (families can decline START but county child-welfare services continue), program capacity (about 20 families at full capacity with two workers), predominant substances seen (the presenter said opioids including fentanyl are prominent, but that alcohol, methamphetamine and other substances also appear), and the program’s federal-fiscal schedule and reporting. Merritt said he will report back to the board as the contract and hiring proceed.

Ending: The county will move forward with the START contract and staffing; commissioners asked staff to return with updates as the program hires family mentors and begins serving cases.