Over the last year, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Social Services (BSS) and Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) have worked jointly on implementation of the National Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) model in Fayette, Kanawha, Mercer, Putnam, and Raleigh counties. START is a child welfare-based initiative that pairs specially trained social workers with family mentors. START family mentors are people in long-term recovery from substance use disorders who have experiences that sensitize them to child welfare.
ODCP and BSS have had the opportunity to experience many successes since teams began serving families. More broadly, front-line teams, court personnel, and treatment providers have experienced more opportunities to collaborate. Increased collaboration has afforded teams and families the ability to complete timely substance use disorder assessments and referrals to intense and quality treatment services. Because substance use disorder is a chronic, progressive disease, parental progress is not always linear.
START in Raleigh County has successfully linked parents with assessments and treatment. Thanks to a strong partnership with FMRS Health Systems, Inc. and family mentors transporting parents to their appointments, each family that has been engaged into START has been able to complete a substance use disorder and mental health assessment within four days.
Similar engagement strategies are observed in Mercer County. As they begin serving families, START has found great success in quickly identifying families in need of services. Because one recently referred parent had access to expedited services, she has been able to increase her parenting time with her child.
Recently, Kanawha County START family mentor Philip Hart worked diligently to locate and engage a parent into treatment. The family mentor made multiple attempts to locate the parent, ultimately succeeding. After an hour of conversation about the parent’s fears and concerns with going to treatment, the parent agreed to leave with the family mentor and go immediately to a detoxification center. This is a great example of one of many ways START keeps parents engaged. At a follow-up court hearing regarding the same family, an attorney acknowledged that traditional child welfare staff are not always able to go to great lengths to locate and engage parents throughout the life of the case. About START’s work with families, Philip says, “I have been in recovery now for over six years and I remember what it is like to be in an active addiction, and feel like everyone around you, be it family or friend is judging you or looking down on you for what you may be doing. With START, they have someone in their corner to fight for them and stand up for them, during the good and bad times. START does not judge, we only encourage!"
Successes like these are numerous in START. When families are involved with West Virginia START, court systems can expect families to receive intensive treatment, engagement, and follow-up while the case remains open. Likewise, treatment providers and family serving agencies can expect strong collaboration and communication on behalf of families.