In response to a steep increase in the number of drug-endangered children, the Children’s Advocacy Center and Hamilton County Juvenile Court are launching a parenting program for families going through recovery from substance use.
The Department of Children’s Services updated the way severe drug cases are classified in 2022, and since then, the number of drug-endangered children in the county has increased from 100 a year to nearly 400 a year, according to a press release from the advocacy center.
That increase prompted the introduction of the 12-week program, called Hope Forward, that is free for parents who are in recovery and involved with the Juvenile Court.
The program works on a referral basis — judges and magistrates can send families to the program as an alternative to sentencing or add the program to a custody arrangement, the release said.
The curriculum the program will use is called “Nurturing Parenting: Families in Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery.” When parents have the skills needed to parent safely, children’s brain development, mental health and school readiness benefit, the release said.