Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $499,817)
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.
The purpose of this grant proposal is to enhance the service provided by the Morris/Sussex Family Drug Courts to those families in the Vicinage (Morris and Sussex Counties combined) who have had a Child Abuse/Neglect case filed against them as a result of a substance abuse problem. Additionally this proposal aims to put the State Judiciary in a better position to advocate for the expansion of Family Drug Courts (FDCs) to other counties. Proposed activities would include the hiring of a full-time substance abuse professional for the Vicinage FDCs; the retention of a professional researcher; and the provision of a variety of services to FDC families.
In the short term, the outcome would be enhanced service to FDC families. In the intermediate term, a high quality comparative study would be completed which should provide State decision makers with New Jersey based information on the worthiness of this program for State funding.
The success of the program will be measured by retention in treatment programs, successful reunification of families, and a decrease in future child abuse incidents in the Morris/Sussex Vicinage. The evaluation will compare results in the three current FDCs counties with the results in three similar counties without FDCs. CA/NCF