The Colorado Dependency and Neglect System Reform Program (DANSR)

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 improvement effort is to expand the scale of family drug courts and scope to serve all families in the child welfare system affected by parental substance abuse issues more effectively and improve child, parent, and family outcomes.

The Dependency and Neglect System Reform Program (DANSR) will integrate effective family drug court practices in the dependency and neglect court systems. The program relies on the Colorado Judicial Department’s collaboration with the Colorado Department of Human Services in order to improve outcomes for children and families in dependency and neglect cases with substance use or mental health disorders. DANSR used family drug treatment court research to create six principles: providing screening for substance use, mental health, and trauma disorders; shortening the timeframe between screening and assessment; using a multidisciplinary team staffing to enhance communication and collaboration; providing timely judicial support; enhancing data collection and sharing across the court and treatment teams; and coordinating strategies at the system level. The goal of DANSR’s implementation phase is to integrate the six principles into the systems that manage dependency and neglect cases with substance use or mental health disorders. It will achieve this goal through activities such as (1) maintaining the current DANSR structure, (2) providing technical assistance to jurisdictions that implement DANSR, (3) integrating DANSR and the Court Improvement Program, (4) collaborating with other initiatives, (5) developing evaluation and information sharing systems, (6) marketing DANSR information, and (7) holding individual, regional, or statewide technical assistance meetings for new jurisdictions. CA/NCF