Burke's opioid settlement money to fund 3 community-based substance abuse programs

Children in Burke County are being placed in foster care at an alarmingly high rate — a rate seemingly exacerbated by parental substance abuse.

The annual rate of children placed in foster care in Burke County is 13.5% — more than twice the state’s average — and Burke County Manager Brian Epley said there appears to be a link between foster care and substance abuse disorder.

Epley gave an overview to county commissioners at Monday’s monthly meeting, continuing an ongoing conversation about foster care.

Later in the two-hour meeting, the board unanimously approved using $957,305 of the county’s opioid settlement funds for three community-based programs, and $886,483 on county initiatives that will help families struggling with substance abuse.

Chairman Jeff Brittain was not at the meeting.

“I want to challenge you to recognize that when you work on something important, there’s a lot of interconnectivity,” Epley said. “I think when you’re working on one (foster care or substance abuse disorder), if you have the right comprehensive strategy, and you’re looking at it the right way, you’re working on both.”

About 76% of children in foster care come from homes with substance abuse issues, Epley said. During his presentation, Epley shared a heat map showing overdoses called into 911 and children who had been removed from homes. The map showed some overlap.

Epley said a lack of community resources is one of the biggest factors contributing to these issues.

“Burke County has a disproportionate number of children in care. Once they come into our care, they stay in our care for a disproportionately high amount of time. We have a disproportionately low number of licensed foster parents in Burke County,” Epley said.

Epley said Burke County has a higher annual rate of investigations/assessments for child welfare per 1,000 children than the state. The rate in Burke County is 67.39%, compared to the state’s 43.6%. The county also has a higher rate of substantiated claims per 1,000 children, at 17.38% compared to the state’s 10.7%.

A substantiated claim means an investigation found evidence that a child or children were unsafe in their environment.

“What’s next? What do we do? I’m a little bit ahead of your agenda, but here shortly, this board’s going to have the opportunity to take some action on a few opioid settlement strategies. One of them will be for SPARC,” Epley said. He said SPARC is an in-home, family-centered treatment for substance abuse.

OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS

SPARC is an intensive in-home program, Opioid Settlement Coordinator Katie Samuels explained in her PowerPoint presentation, “that blends substance use recovery support with family therapy to address risks of removal or instability,” adding that it focuses on reunifying families.

She said the program also allows participants to continue working without interruption. It will cost about $390,000 and will be funded with opioid settlement money.

SPARC is only one program the commissioners voted to fund. The county’s Opioid Advisory Board, which was created earlier this year, also recommended funding A Caring Alternative and High Country Community Health, two other community-based programs, plus three county initiatives.

A Caring Alternative would have a substance abuse intensive outpatient program (SAIOP) and substance abuse comprehensive outpatient treatment (SACOT) services, Samuels said.

SAIOP would run three hours a day, three days a week, while SACOT would run four and a half hours a day, five days a week. The Opioid Settlement Board requested $300,000 from the opioid settlement funds for this program.

High Country Community Health uses low-barrier medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services, which provides access to buprenorphine within a day, according to Samuel’s PowerPoint presentation. Buprenorphine is an opioid used to treat substance abuse disorder.

The program has minimal entry requirements and is geared towards people who may otherwise avoid or delay treatment. For this program, the Opioid Settlement Board requested $267,305 from the opioid settlement funds.

COUNTY PROGRAMS

Samuels also suggested a co-responding post-overdose response team (PORT), which would expand the community paramedic program to offer stronger overdose response support. This will cost $732,760.

Secondly, Samuels suggested increasing access to naloxone across the county, which would cost $39,505.

Lastly, Samuels suggested creating the peer navigator role, a new position focused on helping people connect with recovery resources and navigate services available to them. Funding this initiative will cost $114,219.

The four present members of the board of commissioners unanimously approved of funding the programs and initiatives.