One minute guide: Family drug and alcohol court

What the Family Drug and Alcohol Court is

The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) helps families where there are concerns about the welfare of children as a result of parental substance misuse, domestic abuse, or parental mental health difficulties. It brings together care proceedings for children with additional resources and support, through a court-based family intervention that aims to improve children’s outcomes by addressing the entrenched difficulties of their parents.

Why we are doing this in Leeds

The FDAC approach in London was evaluated and shown to have positive outcomes for children and their families. FDAC resulted in greater reductions in drug misuse for both mothers and fathers compared to families going through standard care proceedings, and more children were able to remain with their parents at the end of the proceedings than for the comparison group. In addition, where it was not possible for children to return to their families, children in FDAC cases were placed more quickly with alternative carers.

The model has been adopted in other parts of the country, including Leeds, as it provides a child-focused, relationship-based approach and seeks to work intensively with parents. This is consistent with our values in Leeds.

How the court works

FDAC is a specialist court within care proceedings. In contrast to standard care proceedings, the FDAC approach offers the following distinct features:

• continuity: the same judge deals with a case throughout, providing consistency for families and allowing them to develop trusting relationships
• problem-solving: cases are reviewed on a fortnightly basis without lawyers present, providing opportunities for regular monitoring of parents’ progress and for judges to engage and motivate parents, speaking directly to them and their social workers to help resolve problems
• support from a specialist multi-disciplinary team who: assess and carry out direct work with parents; develop an intervention plan; enable and assist parents to engage with services to address identified needs; and report to the court on parents’ progress.

Cases are selected, applying the usual threshold for care proceedings. FDAC is most likely to help families that are already demonstrating some willingness to change; participation in the FDAC programme is voluntary, and families who decline to participate will go through the standard care proceedings. There are only a limited number of places available in FDAC; however, the team are always happy to discuss any potential referrals.

What support is offered to families

Each family on the FDAC programme receives support from the specialist multi-disciplinary FDAC team, who coordinate the intervention plan. The team includes two social workers, two substance misuse specialists, and a psychologist.

Each parent participates in a number of assessments as part of the process, to ensure that their needs are fully understood and the support offered is appropriate. The initial assessment is completed early in the proceedings and identifies the timescales for the children, the parents’ goals, and the support that will be provided. This is the plan that is reviewed by the court.

The plan of work covers a range of interventions, including:

Abstinence

Parents are given support and advice on abstaining from street drugs and alcohol, and abstaining from domestic abuse and criminal activity

Understanding and repair

Parents are given support, advice and treatment to understand the problems underlying any substance misuse, domestic abuse and mental health problems, and children supported to make sense of their parents’ difficulties; for example, parents may be encouraged to attend community based intensive treatment programmes

Strengthening relationships

Parents are supported to be more responsive with their children, with each other and the wider family

Child-centred lifestyle

Families are supported to develop a lifestyle that prioritises children’s needs, which could include education and training

How practitioners support families going through the FDAC process

It is important that all practitioners recognise the importance of the FDAC process, and do what they can to support parents who have committed to make these changes for their children.

For social workers, child protection responsibilities in relation to FDAC families remain unchanged. In addition, they are expected to attend fortnightly progress review court hearings, intervention planning meetings or reviews, and a meeting to consider the needs of the child.

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