District of Columbia Family Treatment Court: Expansion and Enhancement Initiative

The Family Drug Courts program builds the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally recognized 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. Category 2: Enhancement grants are available to jurisdictions with a fully operational (for at least 1 year) family drug court that propose to enhance the operation of the court.

The District of Columbia Family Treatment Court (FTC) was created in 2003 under the Superior Court of the District of Columbia's Family Court. The District will expand the scope of the existing model to include a continuum of treatment services (e.g., home-based, out-patient, intensive out-patient and residential substance abuse treatment) based on the assessed need of identified clients, including fathers. The FTC will increase the well-being of, improve permanency outcomes for, and enhance the safety of children who are in an out-of-home placement or at risk of being placed in an out-of-home placement as a result of a parent's/caretaker's substance abuse. Expansion of supportive services will improve engagement and retention in treatment interventions, while improving and strengthening the social network and resources utilized by families throughout the entire continuum of services. A new staffing structure will employ dedicated FTC case managers for participants. Partnerships between the child welfare, substance abuse and court systems will be supported by coordination with mental health, housing, employment and domestic violence service providers. Activities over the 3-year funding period will include: screening, assessment, integrated case plans, and intensive case management for up to 150 families, increasing the annual capacity from 18 residential beds for women with children to 50 slots (out-patient and in-patient) for mothers and fathers, based on assessment of need. Services will be open to eligible participants from all eight wards in the District.

CA/NCF