Chaly Downs News Today

Jefferson County's family drug court saved the area $800,000, according to a cost analysis.

Despite their undisputed effectiveness in protecting children — and even though Kentucky has some of the highest rates of child maltreatment and opioid abuse in the nation — family recovery courts are still not widely available throughout the state. Kentucky previously funded several family drug courts, but they were eliminated in 2010 due to budget cuts. Now, over a decade later, the state legislature has decided to restore some of this funding — but only in Jefferson County.

Advocates say family recovery courts — also known as family drug courts — are crucial in protecting children from abuse and neglect, which often go hand in hand with addiction. In fact, nearly half of the Kentucky children who died or were severely injured from maltreatment in 2020 also experienced substance misuse in their homes.