4th Judicial Family Drug Court

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 Fourth Judicial District Court of Elko, Nevada will implement a family drug court in Elko County that will serve 15 families per year, for a total of 45 families over the three year project period. The target population will be adult parents [age 18 and older] of children who are younger than 18 years of age who are suffering from a substance use disorder and are involved with the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) due to charges of abuse and/or neglect and are at risk for losing, or have temporarily lost, custody of their children. The FDC will meet the following goals: Goal 1) Implement a multi-disciplinary approach to assist substance dependent parents involved in the child welfare system; Goal 2) Establish timely permanency for children of parents with substance abuse issues; Goal 3) Participants will reduce/discontinue their substance use; and Goal 4) Strengthen the capacity of families to provide guidance, structure and nurturance. Services will include both residential rehabilitation and outpatient rehabilitation services for parents. Developmental screening, FAS screening, individual and family therapy, that include specialized pre-school and play therapies will be among the services for the children. The FDC team will work collaboratively to develop a plan for collecting data. Data collection will include the following performance measures: number of parents enrolled and number of successful graduates; percentage of reduction in substance use and negative urinalysis; number and timeliness of permanency placements with parents; number of parent pro-social activities, reduction in re-offense rates, and increases in the children's GPA and school attendance.

CA/NCF