Judge: More kids in court for meth

CELINA - Mercer County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Mary Pat Zitter on Thursday expressed alarm about children coming before her court who are using hard drugs.

Zitter, while presenting the court's proposed 2020 budget to county commissioners, spoke of the impact of drugs in both probate and juvenile courts.

"We have had some more children that evidently are using methamphetamine. So that shows our probation department particularly has to spend more time with them trying to work out ways and means of reaching these children," she said.

Though Zitter did not reveal the number or ages of children using meth who appear before the court, she said that the mere fact of any child using such an extraordinarily dangerous drug is a significant concern.

Children known to be using meth are placed into drug counseling as quickly as possible, Zitter said.

Asked where children get exposed to meth, Zitter pointed to peers and use in their homes. She also noted the drug is readily available.

Drug use in the home can lead to abuse and neglect of children, Zitter said.

"It's not just the fact that the children have parents that can't take care of them because of their addictions," she told commissioners. "Those same children start appearing in delinquency cases."

Drug use is an issue that appears in varying forms in juvenile and probate courts, she said.

"We have more people coming to get guardianship of children or grandchildren," Zitter continued. "(If) we didn't have grandparents we'd be in a tough situation, I think, but that's across the board in the state of Ohio. We get a smaller amount here, but if you look at it from 18 years ago, it's still a substantial increase in the issues."

Court financial clerk Kim Bell said indigent guardianship fund expenses are rising. She tied the trend to the overarching drug problem. The account pays for attorney fees pertaining to guardianship cases - typically the filing of guardianship petitions - involving people lacking financial resources, according to Zitter.

"The last two years … our expenses have exceeded revenue over $7,000," Bell said. "I'm projecting we probably have enough to cover next year's between the carryover and the revenue I'm projecting to come in, but if we have another high year of expenses that fund's not going to have enough money."

Bell told the newspaper the account in 2018 took in $7,350 and expended $14,752 and in 2019 as of Oct. 31 took in $4,662 and expended $12,394. Revenue comes from court fees, she said.

The probate/juvenile court is seeking a total of $636,888 next year from the county's general fund. This year the court initially requested $613,325 but bumped up that sum to $636,685, according to county documents.

Officials pegged juvenile detention expenses at $101,088 for 2020. They were initially set at that same amount this year but wound up at $120,322, county documents indicate.

Most juvenile offenders are sent to the West Central Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility in Troy, which serves Auglaize, Mercer, Darke, Miami, Preble and Shelby counties. The center offers rehabilitation, education and training.

Those convicted of the most serious acts are sent to an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility. Yet the court seeks to avoid sending children into detention, if possible, by dealing with them in a non-adversarial way through programs, Zitter has said.

Zitter pointed to positive developments, too, on Thursday morning.

The juvenile court system has an exercise program that finds minors a few times each week running on the bike path and in other areas in the summer and a gym in the winter. The runners' club, overseen by probation officers, is a court-ordered program in which participants are able to improve their self-image and get a much-needed boost in self-esteem.

"The kids are still very active in the exercise program. We always think that that's good for everyone to expend a little energy in a constructive way," she told commissioners.

Another successful initiative for the at-risk youth is the Ripple Program, created through a partnership among officials from Mercer County 4-H, Mercer County Fairgrounds, Wright State University-Lake Campus's ag program and the juvenile court.  

Launched in the summer of 2018, a group of children took tours to observe various aspects of the agricultural industry, including dairy and poultry farms and raised their own animals.

This summer students planted produce in raised gardens at the county fairgrounds. The gardens were assembled by Wright State University-Lake Campus adjunct professor Kip Wright and fellow professor Ron Kremer.