LARAMIE (WNE) — Just a little more than a year after being created, Albany County’s drug court for juveniles will expand to handle eight cases at a time, up from the six cases it currently handles.

When the program was created in August 2018, funding was available for only four participants at a time.

Even with the new growth, Albany County Attorney Peggy Trent said there’s more children in the county who would benefit from drug court services.

“If we had 15-20 slots, we would fill them,” Trent said. “We don’t accept every child that applies because there might be another child that comes in after who might be ‘high-risk, high-need’ and really needs the services. For example, there might be an occasional smoker of marijuana who applies. That person may need individualized treatment, but not the level of someone who’s doing heroin and meth.”

The Wyoming Department of Health had originally appropriated $90,005 for Albany County’s program for the 2020 fiscal year.

However, WDH has since made more funding available for Albany County and, last week, the Albany County commissioners finalized an update to the 2020 fiscal year contract that will provide an extra $61,216 for the program.

About half that funding will go to support the two additional cases, while the other half will go to support two new programs for drug court participants.