Characteristics of Family Treatment Courts, the Families Th ey Serve, and Th eir Capacity to Meet the Demands of their Communities

Family Treatment Courts (FTCs) seek to address the substance use and other behavioral healthcare treatment needs of parents involved with, or at risk of involvement with the child welfare system. This article is intended to establish a baseline understanding of current FTC operations in terms of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChild welfare Vol. 100; no. 3; pp. 103 - 130
Main Authors Rodi, Michael Shattuck, Dahlgren, Jessica A, Smith, Lyndsey, Kissick, Katherine
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Arlington Child Welfare League of America, Inc 01.05.2022
Subjects
Best practice
Best Practices
Child welfare
Community Relations
Courts
Delinquency Prevention
Drug courts
Drug use
Families & family life
Family (Sociological Unit)
Graduation Requirements
Health care
Health services
Internet
Interpersonal Relationship
Intervention
Juvenile Justice
Medical treatment
Mental Health Programs
Parents
Parents & parenting
Participation
Polls & surveys
Researchers
Self evaluation
Strategic Planning
Substance abuse
Substance use
Treatment needs
Variability
Welfare Services
United States > US
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Summary:Family Treatment Courts (FTCs) seek to address the substance use and other behavioral healthcare treatment needs of parents involved with, or at risk of involvement with the child welfare system. This article is intended to establish a baseline understanding of current FTC operations in terms of their design, capacities, locations, and the participant populations they serve across the United States. Researchers sent each of 360 known FTC programs in the United States a link to the online study survey. This study relied on the Family Treatment Court Best Practice Self-Assessment Tool (FTC BeST). The FTC BeST is a Web-based survey that includes 171 items and takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. Survey results indicated that FTCs vary substantially in structure, size, and implementation. Furthermore, findings indicate that the scope (in terms of services) and scale (in terms of program capacity) fall short of potential need. This study, based on a survey of all FTCs in the United States, provides signifi cant insight into the operations of these programs, and uncovers structural and implementation variability. This variability may indicate that there is a need for research regarding what programs work best. Furthermore, the size and distribution of programs suggest that communities need more information about the strengths and limitations of FTCs and how they fit into the continuum of services for families who are vulnerable.
ISSN:0009-4021