Treatment courts deserve funding

State lawmakers created the Family Treatment Courts program in West Virginia back in 2019. Two years later, they were pleased enough with the program to make it permanent — under the state Supreme Court of Appeals’ supervision.

For a while, this important program — 14 Family Treatment Courts in 18 counties, working to provide resources for parents overcoming substance use disorders while moving toward the safe reunification of families — was funded by federal grants and McKesson Corporation settlement funds through the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy.

This year, the courts had to rely on patched-together grant funding sources, including $280,000 announced in August from a State Opioid Response grant, which will support the program through Sept. 30; and now up to $1,162,038 th