‘We’re losing our kids’: Lack of local resources draws concern for youth drug problem

By Jenna Wilson

Drug use among teens continues to be a concern nationwide, and in St. Joseph, not many treatment options are available for young people dealing with this issue, causing frustration for one local family.

Steve Umphress, the father of a teenage girl in St. Joseph who is a minor, has spent the past few years hoping to find a treatment facility for her drug addiction.

“In the past month and a half, I’ve only got to see her twice,” Umphress said. “She comes in and out of the house, but when she’s here, I’m trying to get her checked into some kind of hospital and that just hasn’t been an option. We get there, she’ll spend a few hours there and they’ll discharge her.”

Umphress said he’s utilized various resource centers in St. Joseph, including the Family Guidance Center behavioral health urgent center, but once he takes his daughter to receive what he hopes will be longer-term treatment, she spends no more than three hours at a facility before being discharged.

The family is looking for a solution quickly, as they believe their daughter is coming close to losing her life each day she’s on the streets.

“She’s very smart and was an honor roll student all the way up into high school,” Umphress said. “Every quarter, she was on the principal’s list. She’s an incredibly smart and beautiful girl and I’m not being biased. She’s just gotten involved with the wrong people, and I want to find her help or we may never see her again.”

Umphress said his daughter and peers she is using drugs with rely heavily on the overdose reversal drug, Narcan, but the drug is only as effective as the people who are around you when it’s time to administer it.

“The past few days there’s a bad batch here in town of the fentanyl and these kids are just dropping,” he said. “Thank God that the some of the kids who are overdosing, somebody is there with Narcan, but I’m no longer sure how effective it is for drug users to even have it on hand. If they’re all using illicit drugs, who’s going to be able to treat someone in the case of an overdose?”

Each time his daughter returns home, he makes the effort to try and get her help, but he said believes it’s going to take 24/7 around-the-clock care, which isn’t an option right now for minors in the area, according to a Family Guidance Center leader.

“One of the issues with inpatient care, especially when it comes to dealing with minors, is there’s not very many inpatient places available,” said Martha Green, substance use disorder director at the Family Guidance Center. “When I first started at Family Guidance in 2013, we had inpatient and detox, and funding was a key reason for why it was closed. It’s so expensive to house somebody for 21 to 30 days.”

Despite there being limited resources for minors battling drug addiction, staff at organizations like the Family Guidance Center are aware that the lack of help for kids is a major issue, which is why they’ve recently developed a program to assist teens facing drug addiction.

“We started an adolescents (substance use disorders) program that is going to be geared towards anybody under the age of 18 that is using substances,” Green said. “This also includes those who struggle with using tobacco and even vaping.”

The program offers harm reduction, education for minors on coping skills to combat their drug addiction, as well as family group therapy, where parents can learn how to be a part of the drug treatment process.

“We want parents to know they can come in as well,” Green said. “They need to know they’re not the only ones dealing with a kid who is battling addiction.”

Having a child who struggles with substance use can create hopelessness for some families, but officials encourage families to utilize the local resources that are available, such as this new program developed at the Family Guidance Center.

“We’re losing our kids,” Green said. “Kids are not just playing around with nicotine or alcohol or even marijuana. We have kids that are using methamphetamines, heroin and many other dangerous opiates like fentanyl. If we don’t start working with them now, they might not make it to the age of 18.”

Meanwhile, families like the Umphresses have a piece of advice for others who may be concerned about their child using drugs.

“To any families out there, keep an eye out on what’s going on,” Umphress said. “Even if you have to go through your kid’s phone; they’ll be mad, they’ll hate you and they won’t understand, but lock them down before they’re locked in because they can die and that’s what I’m worried about.”