About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 Child L. Prac. 1 (1999-2000)

handle is hein.journals/chilawpt18 and id is 1 raw text is: Special Issue: Family Drug Courts Child Law Practice Vol. 18 No. I March 1999 Helping Lawyers Help Kids RESEARCH BASICS Family Drug Courts May Hold The Key for Abused and Neglected Children of Substance Abusers A family court judge description of a routine dependency case: Client: Immature, young, single mother in her 20's. Methamphet- amine or crack cocaine user for 5 - 10 years. The custodial parent of three children who have been taken into foster care. Her welfare checks are taken to defray foster care costs. Disposition: Mom is ordered into drug treatment, anger management/ domestic violence and psychological counseling, with supervised visitation with her children (who are placed some distance out of the city). Case Progress: Without welfare money, mom becomes homeless and moves in with old drug-abusing friends. She stays on a waiting list for six months before getting into a drug treatment program. At the 12-month permanency planning hearing, the caseworker reports mom has only been in treatment for six months and has had some relapses. The judge grants mom more time in treatment to meet the reasonable services provi- sion. The children remain in foster care and begin to show signs of at- tachment disorder. Case Outcome: Mom doesn't comply with treatment and never gets sober. Her parental rights are termi- nated. Her children are considered unadoptable due to their long stay in foster care. hi' Sharon G. Elstein Parental drug or alcohol addiction com- plicates permanency planning for chil- dren in foster care. Parental drug addic- tion is pervasive among families whose children enter foster care.' Researchers estimate that half the tlmilies involved with the child welfare system nationally are impacted by substance abuse.2 Child welfare professionals support that belief. These families create numerous challenges for caseworkers and courts due to the nature of addiction (see box, p. 7). The all-too-common child wel- fare system response to parental addic- tion - delaying reunification while the parent cycles in and out of treat- ment - is not always the most effec- tive approach.' It has been described as a nightmare for its inability to motivate parents to address their sub- stance abuse for their children's sake.4 Family drug courts have the poten- tial to help break the cycle of drug de- pendency among families served by the child welfare system. Like tradi- tional family courts, family drug courts have civil jurisdiction over depen- dency, abuse, and neglect proceedings. They may also handle custody and visitation disputes, child support mat- ters, termination of parental rights peti- tions, and guardianship proceedings. Unlike traditional flamily courts, how- ever, family drug courts focus on pro- viding intensive drug treatment and service delivery to parents with sub- stance abuse problems, in addition to their usual tasks. Family drug courts have emerged within the last few years in response to the growing awareness that traditional responses to parental drug addiction often do not work well. These courts address the needs of families involved in the child welfare system where pa- rental substance abuse is a factor. Un- der the supervision of a judge, family drug courts offer intensive drug treat- ment intervention and supportive ser- vices, within a structure of sanctions and incentives. It is an approach worth considering. How Family Drug Courts Work The family drug court concept has components similar to adult and juvenile drug courts. Although the court processes may differ from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction, family (Continued next page) What's Inside: 3 CASE LAW UPDATE 6 How Family Drug Courts Evolved 10 Flow to Start a Family Drug Court 12 II Tips for Family Drug Courts E-mail: childlawpractice@stalT.abanet.org Internet: littp://www.abainet.org/chiild /IN

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most