OJJDP FY 2013 Family Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program

OJJDP's Juvenile Justice System Improvement Grants program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that provide programs and services critical to the mission of OJJDP, and organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program will be authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.
The expansion of Family Drug Courts (FDC) has created a growing need for program development and improved training and technical assistance (TTA) for State, local, and Tribal jurisdictions. States need comprehensive TTA to develop statewide policies and procedures to increase their scale or infuse FDC practices into the various systems involved in the child abuse and neglect courts. Comprehensive TTA is also needed to institutionalize those systems changes and develop performance measures for accountability. The OJJDP FDC Statewide Systemic Reform Program has proposed creating additional TTA to assist states in developing and improving statewide policies that infuse or increase the scale of FDC practices. As the current provider of the OJJDP National FDC TTA Program, the Center for Children and Family Futures (CCFF), will utilize this supplemental funding to build upon its existing infrastructure, staff capacity, knowledge and extensive inventory of policy and practice resources to deliver the highest quality and most cost-efficient TTA for the FDC Statewide System Reform Program (SSRP) grantees. Key strategies include: 1) assign a change leader team to each state; 2) assist grantees with the development and successful implementation of a multi-year implementation plan; 3) facilitate/conduct three site visits to each state annually; 4) develop grantee profiles; 5) assist grantees in the development of evaluation and information sharing systems to track client progress and cost savings across state systems/agencies; 6) development and dissemination of information (white papers and fact sheets) on statewide reform efforts; and, 7) host a Grantee Kick-Off Meeting and an Annual Grantee Meeting. The goal of this Intensive TTA is to systematically scale up or infuse proven FDC practices to statewide levels and transform cross-systems decision making about policies, programs and resource allocations. CA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for training and technical assistance to organizations that OJJDP designates.

The mission of OJJDP’s Family Drug Court (FDC) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program is to improve outcomes for children and families by providing TTA that supports the planning and implementation of comprehensive FDCs. The FDC TTA Program increases the effectiveness of FDCs by improving their program protocols and standards, cross-system collaborative relationships, cost-effectiveness and staff knowledge and skills. The Center for Children Family Futures (CCFF) serves as OJJDP’s FDC TTA provider and supports the following goals established by OJJDP: provide FDCs with a comprehensive package of FDC-specific tools and resources that meet their individual developmental and improvement needs; support the expansion of FDC’s scale (i.e., penetration rate of families who would benefit from FDCs) and scope (i.e., comprehensive programming responding to the full array of services needed by the children and parents involved); and enhance FDC’s effectiveness by improving outcomes for children and families utilizing evidence based programs. Also to enhance and expand state level TTA to the five states funded under the OJJDP FY 2014 Family Drug Court Statewide System Reform Initiative.

CCFF will continue to work intensely and systematically at the state level, to build on FDC programs that are ready to move toward scaling FDC practices into statewide policies and practices and/or infuse their most effective FDC practices across their states, through State Administrative Offices of the Courts and/or the Court Improvement Programs, which is the Administration on Children, Youth and Families funded initiatives to improve court practices in child abuse and neglect.

NCA/NCF