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Volunteers of America seeks local support to launch Family Recovery Court in Boyle County
Summary
Volunteers of America MidStates asked Boyle County for local funding and partnership to establish a Family Recovery Court, estimating about $250,000 per year to staff the program that helps parents with substantiated CPS cases remain with children through treatment and wraparound supports.
Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO of Volunteers of America MidStates, told the Boyle County Fiscal Court on March 10 that the Family Recovery Court model focuses on keeping families together while treating substance use disorder.
"This is a program that kept families together and kids out of foster care," Hancock said, citing third-party evaluation by the University of Louisville and local replication in counties across Kentucky. Megan Mine, director of Rural Addiction Recovery Services, described the program as voluntary, three-phase and typically running nine to 18 months with daily check-ins, random drug screens, parenting groups and case management to support housing and employment.
Judge Bruce Petri, who has implemented family recovery work in other circuits, told the court the model offers an opportunity to reduce out-of-home placements and the trauma associated with removing children from their homes.
Hancock said a fully staffed program typically requires about $250,000 per year to cover staff salaries, benefits and participant support dollars, and funding normally comes from a mix of local opioid-abatement funds, state allocations and federal grants. She said the program has been approved as an eligible use of opioid settlement dollars in other counties and that Volunteers of America can tailor a local model and assist with staffing and training.
County officials asked for timing and budget details; Volunteers of America requested that the county consider a local commitment soon to align with the state's budget and to enable staffing and site planning before the July fiscal year start. The court did not vote to commit local dollars at the March 10 meeting but agreed to consider a request during budget deliberations.
If the court chooses to fund the program, Hancock and Mine said the model would recruit and hire locally and coordinate closely with the state Department for Community Based Services to speed reunification where safe.
