FY 2016 Guam Family Drug Court Project

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 goals of the Guam Family Drug Court (GFDC) are to (1) implement a reform process that addresses the treatment needs of court-involved parents of children in the child welfare system who have co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders, (2) implement a collaborative system of services that enhances family engagement and addresses the needs of GFDC participants and their children, and (3) initiate a court-supervised drug treatment program for eligible GFDC participants. GFDC will conduct an island-wide assessment to determine the capacity needed to implement an effective family drug court, develop a 2-year technical assistance plan, develop peer networks and initiate cross-training and collaboration initiatives, initiate early implementation of the project to provide a judicially supervised drug treatment program for 20 participants, and develop an information-sharing system and evaluation plan.

CA/NCF