Adult Treatment Court celebrates 100th graduate

Terrie started her abuse of substances at the tender age of sixteen using marijuana. As is most often the case with teenagers, she never dreamed her dabbling with marijuana would eventually evolve into a full-blown addiction to heroin. Over twenty years and multiple crimes later, Terri was sitting in the Oakland County Jail pending sentencing realizing she needed the Adult Treatment Court to hold her accountable. Her addiction had stolen not only her freedom, but also the custody of her four children, the trust and respect of her family, not to mention any sense of her own personal integrity. Now, after celebrating her first six months of sobriety since she was 16, Terrie has recovered all of the above and more. She holds a full-time job and as she noted, "...the first one I've had for longer than two weeks." For the first time in her life Terrie has her own apartment and has re-established relationships with all of her children and her parents. On Wednesday, July 13, at 2 p.m., the Oakland County Adult Treatment Court will hold its twenty-ninth graduation since its inception in August of 2001. The ninety-ninth through one hundred and fourth graduates (Terrie being the 100th) will be honored with a ceremony and reception to be held at the Oakland County Commissioners Auditorium attached to the Sixth Circuit Courthouse, located at 1200 North Telegraph Road in Pontiac. The Adult Treatment Court (ATC) has served 358 participants to date. The ATC is a four-phase intervention program for non-violent, felony offenders who find it difficult to maintain sobriety. Without acceptance into the ATC program these individuals would otherwise be facing a probable sentence of months, if not years, in jail or prison. The program's key elements are: extremely close judicial and community supervision, intense substance-abuse treatment, frequent substance abuse testing, and a long-term commitment to program requirements. The ATC team consists of two judges: Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Joan E. Young, who presides over the male participants, and Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Colleen O'Brien, who presides over the female participants. Additional members of ATC team include the defense attorney, probation officer, a program supervisor, and various treatment providers. While the ATC meets bi-weekly, the team is in daily contact, intensely monitoring and intervening with the programs participants. The ATC expects participants to find and maintain employment, consistently participate in treatment, pay court costs, including restitution to the victims of their crimes and of course, take responsibility for the support of their children. Notably, the recidivism rates for graduates of the ATC are 37% lower than felons who never participate in the ATC. Additionally, the cost to Oakland County tax payers since inception for ATC has been approximately $100,000. If not for the ATC, potential cost to the county tax payer to incarcerate these offenders would have been $3,500,000, a cost savings of $3,400,000. An ATC graduate commented that without the Adult Treatment Court "I would have been in prison or dead or killed somebody drunk driving." O'Brien adds, "The cost associated with alcohol and drug abusing offenders is staggering. The impact on the substance abuser's family is profound. "Oakland County Sixth Circuit Court is doing its part through the Adult Treatment Court to address these issues and find solutions that will be mutually beneficial to the defendants, their families, victims and the community at large." Anyone wishing to make a donation to either the Adult Treatment Court or the Juvenile Drug Court you can do so via the RESTORE Foundation and may contact the chambers of Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Potts at (248) 858-0365. Published: Thu, Jun 30, 2011

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