By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — A new court in St. Joseph County coming next year is looking to tackle abuse and neglect cases in the county that have to do with substance use.
On Tuesday, the Executive Committee of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners placed an agreement for St. Joseph County Family Court to receive a $60,000 grant from the state to establish a new Abuse and Neglect Court under its umbrella. It is the first time the court has received a grant for this service.
Probate Court Judge Kevin Kane said the new court will be a brand-new way to look at and run some of the abuse and neglect cases that come in, in particular those that have to do with substance abuse treatment.
“This program is hopefully going to change the lives of families,” Kane said during the meeting.
How the court would work, Kane said in an interview following the meeting, is that specific abuse and neglect cases would be referred to the court by either the Department of Health and Human Services or a person’s attorney, with the judge meeting weekly to bi-weekly with the parents and possibly the kids if they come to the court. Kane said they would utilize Pivotal, Covered Bridge Health, and private therapists to help deal with those specific cases.
“We’re making sure they’re getting the treatment that we’ve set out,” Kane said. “A lot of our cases we only see them every 91 days. This will speed those up to where we’re in front of them and they’re in front of us every other week.”
Kane said he was inspired to start the court after looking to Kalamazoo County and Cass County, where they run similar courts, calling Cass County’s specifically the “gold standard for family treatment courts.”
“It’s really watching the other courts, other family treatment courts, progress and how the success rates,” Kane said. He added the court is a chance to, as he said, “change up how we really looked at a lot of our cases and really saying, hey, we’re going to help, but we’re going to hold you to it, too.”
Funding for the grant, Kane said, comes from the same state source as their juvenile mental health court. While he will seek additional funding for the court from opioid settlement funds the county is slated to receive, he said the $60,000 will be enough to at least get the services started on Jan. 1.
Melissa Bliss, who has been the Director of Community Corrections for St. Joseph County, said during the meeting the new program is “exciting.”
“I think we have a pretty good framework for how to move framework. We have other problem-solving courts here in St. Joseph County, so seeing where the greatest need is, it seems to align, especially with the number of cases that Kevin has coming through, it allows us to provide wraparound services,” Bliss said.
Kane said during the meeting he is working with stakeholders on how to “best formulate” their plan for the court, seeing what has worked in other counties and tailoring it to the size of St. Joseph County. Overall, Kane said he’s looking forward to the new court’s launch.
“It’s a unique situation, and I’m really proud to see what we’ll be able to do,” Kane said.
In other business…
- Commissioners added to their next regular meeting agenda a DTMB Integration Agreement Renewal for Central Dispatch and annual county appropriations for both Pivotal and the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency.
- Commissioners added re-appointments for three St. Joseph County Planning Commission members, as well as the appointment of Rea Brown to the St. Joseph County Road Commission board.
- Commissioners put on the consent agenda for their next regular meeting an extension of the county’s partnership with Kalamazoo County for household hazardous waste for up to $5,000 per year.
