Witness says courts stigmatize medication-assisted treatment in custody cases

A witness at the meeting described helping people in addiction recovery with expungements, family-law cases and consumer matters and said those services are intended to help clients “put their lives back together.”

The witness said the community where they work has been “heavily impacted by the opioid crisis,” and that legal assistance — including clearing records — helps people pursue more stable lives and family relationships.

“This work has really forced me to look at the bigger long-term picture,” the witness said, describing how litigation choices can affect clients’ futures. The witness added that when handling custody disputes they try to be “really mindful about where I file that case and how I plead because I know that that judge is going to see a lot of cases that are very similar.”

The witness also raised concerns about treatment stigma in court, saying that people who are on medication-assisted treatment (MAT) are frequently treated as if they are less fit parents. “Folks who may be on medicated assisted treatment are stigmatized in the court system, especially in things like custody cases,” the witness said, and urged courts and legal advocates to dispel myths about MAT.

No formal motion or vote was recorded on the record; the speaker framed the comments as part of advocacy on behalf of clients and as a call for legal and judicial attention to filing strategies and stigma reduction.