Garcia Wilburn bill to grow family recovery courts halted in Ways and Means, leaves recovery courts in limbo

A bill authored by State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) to establish a fund for family recovery courts and grow their presence around the state passed its first hurdle earlier this week but as the House faces key deadlines, its future is uncertain. The House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 1107 unanimously.

HB 1107 would establish the Family Recovery Court Fund to grow the presence and capacity of family recovery courts around the state. Family recovery courts are certified problem-solving courts that target cases of abuse or neglect wherein a parent or primary caregiver suffers from a substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders.

However, it remains stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee without a scheduled hearing as the House approaches the final deadline for House bills to pass committee on Monday, Feb. 17. The bill was recommitted to Ways and Means because it creates a monetary fund, even though it does not appropriate any money into the fund.

Garcia Wilburn issued the following statement on the importance of the bill and this disappointing setback for families dealing with substance use disorder:

"Family recovery courts apply a non-adversarial, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary approach targeting the disease of addiction at a familial level and along a continuum of care. They reduce taxpayer costs by working to solve the problem of addiction outside of the courtroom and prison system. As Indiana continues to fight the opioid epidemic in our communities, funding family recovery courts would be an excellent use of our opioid settlement dollars, which is why I authored this bill.

"Thank you to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Chris Jeter for granting HB 1107 a hearing and to my fellow committee members for supporting this legislation. Amid mental health and certified community behavioral health center (CCBHC) funding uncertainty, I was disappointed to learn that this bill that does not cost the state anything will not receive a hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee before our key committee hearing deadline – meaning that it is now dead in the water in its original form. I will continue to work tirelessly with the Senate to find alternatives.

"We have made progress in our state on reducing overdose deaths in recent years. But I have grave concerns that without continuing to fund evidence-based efforts like CCBHCs or creating a new funding source for family recovery courts like HB 1107, we will backslide and leave more children without parents and more families without their loved ones. I came to the General Assembly to get real work done for our community, and that doesn't stop with this bill dying."

Judicial officers around the state expressed support for this legislation.

As Allen County Magistrate Sherry Hartzler said of the county's family recovery court, "We have had approximately 10 babies born substance free since we started in February 2019. The births occurred either during their participation or after they graduated as we’ve kept up with a lot of our grads. I was curious and looked at the lifetime monetary costs for substance-exposed infants and saw one study from 2002 that ranged from $750,000 to $1.4 million.  Astounding and these numbers are 20 years old." 

Knox County Judge Gara Lee shared: "During the existence of the Knox County family recovery court we have had at least five, if not six, babies born clean to participant mothers in our program. I believe that the cost savings of having a child born substance free to be immeasurable."

Garcia Wilburn will continue working with family recovery court judges to find a solution this legislative session and ensure Hamilton County Courts have the opportunity to explore family recovery courts for our communities.