Rocky Boy Family Healing to Wellness Courts Enhancement Program

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 either implement new drug courts or enhance pre-existing drug courts for substance-abusing adults involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse and neglect issues. Applicants 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 Chippewa Cree Tribe proposes a three year Family Drug Court Enhancement project. Rocky Boy's Family Healing to Wellness Court Program will address the lack of a comprehensive intervention and rehabilitation system for the community-wide problem of youth victimization due to alcohol and drug abuse. The target population includes Chippewa Cree families with high risk factors for substance abuse-related child abuse and neglect, such as alcohol and drug abuse. Based on reported demographics, these offenders and their victims are typically low-income families with histories of generational substance abuse.

This program will improve the Chippewa Cree Tribal Family Drug Court by strengthening capacity to provide problem identification and treatment resource acquisition services to the families through enhanced collaborative planning, target population screening and eligibility, clinical assessment and service delivery to children, parents, families, and case management, design and duration of program, judicial supervision, drug testing, incentives and sanctions, as well as management information system and evaluations. More specifically, these strategies will include:1) Improve with an Evidence-Based SAMHSA Model titled Strengthening Families Program; 2) Enhanced Staffing for Expanded Intervention and Treatment Services; and, 3) Improved Family Rehabilitation through Community-based Collaboration.CA/NCF