In Clark County, IN, there are more than 240 open “Child in Need of Services” cases where a child is at risk from being removed from their home or has already been removed; the majority of those cases involve the parents’ use of drugs or alcohol. For many of those families, Clark County’s Family Recovery Court (FRC) offers hope.

The FRC is part of the Enhanced Bridge to Success program, led by the Honorable Judge Lisa Garcia Reger (Clark Circuit Court #4) and funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Bridge to Success extends beyond the FRC with a wide variety of support services to help parents and their families, including parenting programs, alumni groups, and support networks, all aimed at helping families break the cycle of addiction and reunite parents with their children.

Iris Rubadue, FRC Court Coordinator and a probation officer, noted, “We try to be present for our families, not just inside the courtroom, but also through providing programs like Celebrating Families and by hosting sober events for alumni at times when there might triggers that increase the risk of returning to use.” The goal is not simply to reunify families, but to strengthen them. When parents consistently show up, children begin to heal, relationships begin to mend, and families gain the opportunity to build healthier futures together.

Also supporting the program are staff and faculty members from Prevention Insights (PI), a center at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B). PI offers technical assistance and evaluation services to Bridge to Success.

Jon Agley, Executive Director of PI and associate professor at IU SPH-B, shared an excerpt from the conclusion of PI’s recent qualitative evaluation of Celebrating Families. “Many of the statements [we collected] represent strong testimonies about how [parents’] lives have changed. Several participants directly referred to [FRC] program staff as being key factors that helped them facilitate those changes.” Agley said that the report helped show the different ways in which the program enabled parents’ success.

Since receiving the current round of funding in 2024, Bridge to Success has enrolled 88 parents, with new parents being enrolled almost every month.

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Other coverage of this story: Clark County recovery court working with Indiana University team to break cycles of addiction

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The project described in this article is primarily supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $399,997 during the current fiscal year. The contents and statements in this article do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, SAMHSA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.