Alabama Family Drug Court Statewide System Reform

OJJDP is seeking to infuse effective family drug court practices established at the local level and institutionalize them in the larger state-level child welfare, substance abuse treatment, and court systems. The purpose of this state systems reform effort is to expand the scale of family drug courts (i.e., penetration rate of the larger child welfare and substance abuse treatment systems) and scope (i.e., range of comprehensive services for families) to serve all families in the child welfare system affected by parental substance use disorders more effectively and improve child, parent, and family outcomes.

The Administrative Office of Courts in conjunction with the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Mental Health propose the implementation of the Alabama Family Drug Court Statewide System Reform project. The mission of the project is to expand the capacity of state agencies to intervene with parents with substance use and/or co-occurring conditions who are involved in the child welfare system. Project goals include: 1) initiate the Alabama Family Drug Court Statewide System Reform project through the completion of a 12-month planning, process, and 2) implement activities proposed in the systems change plan within the designated time frame. The 12-month planning phase will entail completion of a capacity assessment, resource mapping/assessment, technical assistance plan, data sharing protocols, data sharing agreement, multi-year funding plan, and systems change plan. Implementation activities will include training opportunities, web-based resource listing, selection of six mentor family drug courts and commitment for six additional communities to adopt reform strategies. All activities will be coordinated through the oversight of a Leadership Team composed of representatives from each state agency and augmented by team members (i.e., treatment providers, community based service providers, DHR legal, defense attorneys, guardian ad litems, judiciary, program coordinators) from key Family Drug Courts within the state.

CA/NCF