Sonoma County Dependency Drug Court Expansion Project

The purpose of the Family Drug Courts Program is to build the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments to develop and establish drug courts for substance-abusing adults involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse and neglect issues. The program must provide services to the children of the parents in the program as well as to the parents. The program provides seed money, not long-term support. OJJDP expects successful applicants to develop and implement a sustainability plan during the grant period to continue operation of the family drug court when the grant ends. The program is authorized under 42 U.S.C. 3797u, et seq.

Sonoma County, California seeks to achieve the following goals of its Dependency Drug Court (DDC): decrease the incidence of child abuse/neglect by mothers with substance use disorders; improve child developmental outcomes; and improve child permanency outcomes. OJJDP funds leveraged with over $350,000 from county government and private grants will allow Sonoma County to accomplish its objectives of doubling the capacity of its DDC, providing comprehensive assessment and services to mothers, providing developmental assessments to children, and implementing family-focused programming. The DDC is a voluntary twelve-month court-supervised, comprehensive treatment program for families whose children have been removed or are at risk of removal as a result of child abuse or neglect associated with a mother's substance abuse. DDC activities include regular court appearances, intensive case management, substance abuse treatment and compliance monitoring, family support services and developmental services for children. The capacity expansion will include social workers who participate in team meetings and provide coordination of families' case plans. Families will participate in an augmentation of the current program by the County's implementation of an evidence-based family intervention, the Strengthening Families Program. Existing Alcohol and Other Drug and Child Welfare data systems will measure mothers' participation, treatment outcomes and services to children. CA/NCF