Family Treatment Drug Court Process and Parental Legal Outcomes: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy III

Abstract

Family Treatment Drug Courts (FTDCs) have increased in popularity over the last 15 years and aim to reunify families, achieve timely permanent placements for children, and address substance abuse issues among parents utilizing a therapeutic approach. For child welfare cases, parental substance abuse is seen as the problem that hinders the ability for the child’s return to parents’ care. Thus, the primary goal of FTDCs is to treat the parental legal and psychosocial issues in child welfare cases. Despite growing popularity, the evidence for FTDC effectiveness is mixed and it is currently unclear what benefits and consequences these courts hold for parents. Some research suggests that the FTDC model promotes better long-term outcomes for parents and families over their traditional courtroom counterparts while others raise concern over whether these outcomes have been driven by the FTDC therapeutic model of justice, or the surveillance used by the FDTCs to monitor parents and families. We present the results of a methodologically rigorous review and synthesis of the growing number of FTDC impact evaluations to thoroughly understand whether FTDCs are effective for improving parental legal and psychosocial outcomes and how this effectiveness is related to the therapeutic tools used by the FTDC.

Authors

• Suzanna Fay-Ramirez, University of Queensland

• Elizabeth Eggins, University of Queensland