By Stephen Smoot
Throughout the state, offender report programs have worked to help to guide and reform those who commit crimes and end up in the criminal justice system – especially those also dealing with drug addiction issues.
Day report and drug court programs mark their victories by the individuals saved from addiction and directed toward productive pursuits, as well as families maintained and lives improved.
Last month Darren Taylor, executive director of the South Branch Valley Day Report Center, spoke to the Pendleton County Commission about their work.
Locally, both programs have saved a number of individuals from addiction and incarceration. Taylor states that the positive impact even stretches to Child Protective Services case outcomes.
Child Protective Services provides investigation and social work services for families that have children suspected of being neglected or abused. Neglect and/or abuse often goes hand-in-hand with addicted parents or guardians. Stressors caused by criminal activity and its consequences also create household dysfunction that usually impacts the child most.
A 2022 West Virgina Budget and Policy study stated that “the majority of families investigated by Child Protective Services . . . are low income and most children entering foster care in West Virginia are removed at least in part due to parental substance abuse or neglect.”
That same study also explained the extent of problems with the state’s overburdened foster care system.
Taylor shared that although the South Branch Valley Day Report Center’s work has not led to a direct decline in the number of cases, the interventions provided still have an impact. He stated that “what we have seen is that courts are reporting better outcomes for the cases that we are involved in.”
Better results have come from Day Report using experience with regional families and data to craft a program that supports family healing while also trying to reduce offender recidivism. Bringing back that sense of family and “normalcy” can help to strengthen supports and motivations to keep clients off of drugs and out of trouble.
“Our approach goes beyond simply identifying substance use issues or addiction,” explained Taylor, who went on to say that “when referrals indicate the need for an assessment—or when cases are specifically referred for it—we provide targeted programming designed to give individuals involved in CPS cases the best opportunity to successfully complete their improvement period.”
South Branch Valley Day Report Center programming includes classes, coaching, and mentoring in parenting, co-parenting, life skills, anger management, criminal and addictive thinking, relapse prevention, domestic violence intervention and prevention, and substance use recovery programming. Taylor noted that “these services encompass individual coaching, case management, and community engagement.”
These services extend beyond the state guidelines for the program. These share that “the ultimate goal of day report centers through the Community Restorative Justice Programs is providing offenders with the necessary structure and guidance to facilitate a productive transition of re-entry into the community.”
Taylor told commissioners that they reached out to the West Virginia Department of Human Services to offer more services, to ask what needs they can fill.
The regional approach works because it is Taylor-made to the Potomac Highlands. Interventions that work in Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton counties will not necessarily bear the same fruit in Kanawha, Berkeley, or even Logan and Mingo counties. Differences in culture, offender patterns, and other aspects mean that each region needs to craft its own set of programs, though they can certainly also inspire each other.
Program participants, as Taylor shares, have seen faster completion times and more families remaining intact. Lessons learned and applied help these families “better navigate life challenges.”
Taylor also stated that families have seen the difference made in other examples and participants, and as a result, seek out what South Branch Day Report Center offers so they can see improvement in their own lives. “Our client base has increased in Pendleton County largely due to these service offerings. We hope for the same outcome in Pendleton County as we have seen in Hampshire and Hardy,” he says.
“What we strive to do is provide people in these CPS cases the best opportunity available to show improvement and be better equipped for parenting and as a result keep children with their families whenever possible,” adds Taylor.
