Butte-Silver Bow County Family Drug Court Program

OJJDP's Family Drug Courts program builds 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 individuals with substance abuse disorders or substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders, including histories of trauma, who are involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse, neglect, and other parenting issues. Applicants must provide services to the children of the parents in the program as well as to the parents. This 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. This program is authorized by 42 U.S.C. 3797u, et seq.

Butte-Silver Bow County, Montana is requesting funding for three years for enhancements to its Family Drug Court. The program has been operating for 8 years and has an overarching goal of improving child well-being and strengthening families whose functionality has been compromised by substance abuse. The BSB Family Drug Court Steering Team has established a targeted capacity of 26 adults and 52 children per 18-month cycle. This will be based upon the number of children in the child protection system, the percent of cases in which substance abuse is a factor and the community environment which is feeding an intergenerational cycle of this phenomenon. The program targets families that have an active case file with Child Protective Services and whose child or children have been or are at risk of being removed from the home due to substance abuse. It strives to reunite children and families whenever possible and establish permanency. The Butte FDC is a collaboration between Butte-Silver Bow County, the Montana Second Judicial District Court, Child Protective Services, defense council, the county attorney, guardians ad litem, and treatment providers using an evidence-based approach firmly rooted in the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence and the Ten Key Components of Drug Courts. The goals of the above grant are to reunite parents with children who have been removed from home due to neglect or abuse whenever possible by facilitating the path to sober parenting and establish permanency for children; ensure staff and team members are qualified and trained in the FDC model and have the competencies to ensure positive outcomes for participants; and maintain effective systems that are evaluated for their effectiveness through use of accurate and regularly evaluated data.

CA/NCF