OK Co. FDC

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 Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), the lead agency will collaborate with five state and community agencies, to implement a Family Drug Court (FDC) program for Oklahoma County (OK Co.). ODMHSAS and our collaborative agencies will establish a FDC to offer early and effective intervention while enhancing capacity to serve substance-affected families who have experienced child removal due to abuse and/or neglect issues. This will be a highly structured judicial intervention process designed to protect children and to reunite families by providing drug-abusing parents with supportive treatment, and access to service. This will be accomplished by establishing the FDC, improving permanency outcomes, decreasing risk, increasing protective factors for children and parents, and improve substance abuse treatment outcomes by expediting the receipt of comprehensive services. As part of the array of services offered, parents and children will receive age, gender, developmentally, and culturally competent and appropriate screening, assessments and evidence-based interventions to increase family functioning. Four evidence-based interventions include the Strengthening Families Program, Celebrating Families Program, Motivational Interviewing, and Matrix Model.

CA/NCF