Court has funds to aid addicts’ kids

Clark County has received a $1.48 million grant to serve children emotionally affected by methamphetamine-abusing parents.

The grant, provided by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, will pay for services for children whose parents are in Clark County Superior Court’s Family Treatment Court.

In an October specialty courts newsletter, Bradley Finegood, Superior Court’s therapeutic courts coordinator, called the grant innovative and said it will cover psychological testing of children and parenting classes for their drug-abusing parents.

The grant, one of three awarded to the county’s therapeutic courts in the past month, comes when money is especially tight. Clark County Commissioners announced this year that 20 percent of the “meth tax” has to be cut from the $5.8 million earmarked for treatment programs in the 2011-12 budget.

But it’s been nothing but good news for therapeutic courts since last month. Clark County District Court received a $350,000, three-year grant to launch a court for military veterans charged with misdemeanor crimes. And Superior Court’s juvenile recovery court received a $900,000 grant for substance abuse treatment and evaluation.

Cleve Thompson, the county’s drug and alcohol program manager, said the grants allow the programs to serve a burgeoning number of drug-affected families at a cash-strapped time.

“Basically, the grants give us a chance to weather the storm,” he said.

Clark County was among 12 counties throughout the United States chosen for the four-year SAMHSA grant, which covers $370,000 a year in services for children.