Family Treatment Courts

Family treatment courts, also referred to as family drug courts and dependency drug courts, use a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to serve families with substance use disorders and who are involved with the child welfare system. Well-functioning family treatment courts bring together substance use treatment providers, child welfare services, mental health agencies, and other community partners in a non-adversarial approach. They seek to provide safe environments for children, intensive judicial monitoring, and interventions to treat parents’ substance use disorders and other co-occurring risk factors.

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  Policy and Practice Resources

  • Plans of Safe Care: An Issue Brief for Judicial Officers
    (PDF 409 KB)

    National Quality Improvement Center for Collaborative Community Court Teams and National Center for State Courts (2020)

    Judicial officers hear a variety of dependency matters from a unique vantage point. This often requires insight and education in areas beyond the law, such as substance use, mental health, and infant health and development. This briefing paper is intended to assist judicial officers presiding over collaborative community court teams to better understand Plans of Safe Care (POSC), the court’s role in implementing POSC, and the process of bringing together community partners to improve systems for infants with prenatal substance exposure and their families. It is also included as a resource on the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

    View Document Plans of Safe Care: An Issue Brief for Judicial Officers
  • Reasonable and Active Efforts, and Substance Use Disorders Toolkit
    (PDF 379 KB)

    National Quality Improvement Center for Collaborative Community Court Teams (QIC-CCCT), American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, and the Tribal Law and Policy Institute (2020)

    This toolkit was designed for professionals working with families in or at risk of entering the child welfare system. QIC-CCCT developed the toolkit to help address some of the challenges in making reasonable and active efforts and related judicial findings in cases involving substance use. Judicious application of reasonable and active efforts statutes can assist parents and children in receiving needed services that may improve permanency outcomes. The toolkit provides definitions, statutory requirements, examples of reasonable and active efforts, and a resource guide for further reading. It is also included as a resource on the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

    View Document Reasonable and Active Efforts, and Substance Use Disorders Toolkit
  • Family Treatment Court Planning Guide
    (PDF 2.2 MB)

    National Drug Court Institute and Children and Family Futures, 2018

    This guide provides step-by-step instructions for teams planning to start and implement a family treatment court in their community. Key decision makers (e.g., family or juvenile court judges, court administrators, directors of child protective services) can use this guide to recruit and motivate the multidisciplinary, collaborative planning team necessary to begin the planning process.

    View Document Family Treatment Court Planning Guide
  • National Strategic Plan for Family Drug Courts

    Children and Family Futures, 2017

    Developed with a diverse group of stakeholders, the plan provides the rationale for family drug court expansion, summarizes the history and current status of implementation, and delineates goals, strategies, and activities for quality improvement and expansion.

    Visit Website National Strategic Plan for Family Drug Courts
  • Transitioning to a Family-Centered Approach: Best Practices and Lessons from Three Adult Drug Courts
    (PDF 979 KB)

    Children and Family Futures and National Drug Court Institute, 2017

    This case study looks at three adult drug courts (ADCs) that are in the process of transitioning from a traditional ADC to one that has expanded services to families and children of program participants. The purpose of the study was to obtain information about the ADC core team members’ experiences and perceptions of the ADC processes as well as the programs’ successes and challenges as they increased their services to address the needs of children and families. The case studies found 10 key strategies for implementing a family-focused approach.

    View Document Transitioning to a Family-Centered Approach: Best Practices and Lessons from Three Adult Drug Courts
  • Guidance to States: Recommendations for Developing Family Drug Court Guidelines
    (PDF 979 KB)

    Children and Family Futures, 2015

    This publication provides information on best practices and collaborative principles to develop and sustain family drug courts. The guidelines will assist policy makers and practitioners to enhance and expand these programs across the country.

    View Document Guidance to States: Recommendations for Developing Family Drug Court Guidelines

• State and Local Examples

  • Brief: Grants to Expand Services to Children Affected by Methamphetamine in Families Participating in Family Treatment Drug Court
    (PDF 937 KB)

    National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, 2014

    The brief summarizes the experiences, lessons, and outcomes of the collaborative efforts of the Children Affected by Methamphetamine (CAM) grant program (October 2010–September 2014). The brief also provides an overview of the grant program, the grantees, and key implementation lessons and highlights the CAM program’s interim safety, permanency, recovery, and well-being outcomes for the 1,850 families served during the first three years of the grant.

    View Document Brief: Grants to Expand Services to Children Affected by Methamphetamine in Families Participating in Family Treatment Drug Court
  • Children Affected by Methamphetamine Program: Implementation Progress and Performance Measurement Report
    (PDF 937 KB)

    National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, 2016

    This report incorporates lessons of the Children Affected by Methamphetamine grant program (October 2010–September 2014). The report includes a summary of project design and implementation as well as grantee priorities and performance in improving the safety, permanency, and well-being of children affected by methamphetamine and their families including recovery for their parents.

    View Document Children Affected by Methamphetamine Program: Implementation Progress and Performance Measurement Report
  • Family Drug Courts Training and Technical Assistance Program

    Children and Family Futures, 2018

    Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), this project works to improve outcomes for children and families by providing training and technical assistance to state and local courts, local government, and tribes to build their capacity to develop, maintain, and enhance family drug courts. The project helps courts develop cross-system collaboration, implement effective evidence-based practices, conduct needs assessments, develop strategic plans, provide staff training and development, conduct research and evaluation, and develop sustainability plans.

    Visit Website Family Drug Courts Training and Technical Assistance Program
  • Family Drug Court Peer Learning Court Program

    Children and Family Futures, 2018

    Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this program identifies successful family drug courts to serve as best practice models and offer peer-to-peer technical assistance. Peer Learning Courts host family drug court professionals to experience their court in action and share proven policies, practices, and lessons.

    Visit Website Family Drug Court Peer Learning Court Program<
  • Statewide Systems Improvement Program

    Children and Family Futures, 2018

    Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this program awards funding to states to implement and institutionalize effective family drug court practices in the larger state-level child welfare, substance use disorder treatment, and court systems.

    Visit Website Statewide Systems Improvement Program
  • The Prevention and Family Recovery (PFR) Initiative (2014–2018)

    Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Duke Endowment, the program seeks to advance the capacity of Family Drug Courts (FDCs) and their partner agencies to provide and sustain a comprehensive family-centered approach grounded in cross-systems collaboration and evidence-based practices to improve child, parent, and family outcomes. A set of five PFR briefs were created that highlight cross-cutting lessons to guide the field in replicating effective FDC practices. A companion set of case studies tells a more in-depth story of each grantee’s journey.

    Visit Website The Prevention and Family Recovery (PFR) Initiative (2014–2018)

• Online Trainings, Videos, and Webinars

  • Learning Academy 2018: Planning For Safe Care—What Your Family Drug Court Needs to Know

    National Family Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program, 2018

    The nation’s prescription drug and the opioid crisis have led to an increase in opioid use disorders among pregnant and parenting women. Best practices suggest the need for a collaborative response across systems to improve outcomes, reduce risks and adverse consequences for pregnant and parenting women and their infants, and help families remain together safely. This Learning Academy provides a variety of web-based learning elements including:

    • A 30-minute pre-recorded webinar presentation addressing how Family Drug Courts and uniquely positioned to support Plans of Safe Care;
    • A recording of a live webinar from July 2018 that features a facilitated discussion between a nationally recognized Family Drug Court judge and women’s healthcare and addiction medicine expert discussing best practices in collaboration important to meet the treatment and healthcare needs of both children and parents;
    • Two podcasts that provide insights and in-depth exploration of medication-assisted treatment, family centered approaches to care, and Plans of Safe Care overviewed in the pre-recorded and live webinars. Both podcasts feature Jill Gresham, Senior Program Associate for Children and Family Futures, and Dr. Mishka Terplan, practicing addiction medicine physician and faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine; and
    • Materials including a team discussion and call to action guide to support collaborative teams to examine their current practice and take important steps to improve approaches to planning for the safe care of infants and services to their parents/caregivers.

    Visit Website Learning Academy 2018: Planning For Safe Care—What Your Family Drug Court Needs to Know
  • Family Drug Court Online Tutorial

    Children and Family Futures, 2017

    This free online tutorial provides an overview of the family drug court model research and best practices through an interactive five-module, self-paced learning environment that includes resource links, case studies, questions, and information boxes to enhance participants’ learning experience.

    Visit Website Family Drug Court Online Tutorial
  • Family Drug Court Learning Academy

    Children and Family Futures, 2010- 2018

    Funded by OJJDP, the Family Drug Court Learning Academy is a series of web-based trainings that provide information and support family drug court professionals to initiate strategic planning, implement program improvements, evaluate performance, and sustain their family drug courts. The Learning Academy is comprised of “learning communities” that are responsive to the developmental stages of family drug courts.

    Visit Website Family Drug Court Learning Academy
  • Family Drug Court Blog

    Children and Family Futures, 2018

    This online blog facilitates learning, knowledge sharing, and information dissemination between family drug court professionals.

    Visit Website Family Drug Court Blog