Purpose: The Family Recovery Program (FRP), located in Baltimore, Maryland, is a family treatment court (or family dependency drug court) that provides intensive judicial oversight for substance-abusing parents involved with the child welfare system. The general program population consists of substance abusing parents who have a child/children age 0-5 years entering foster care for the first time. The intent of the FRP is to divert parents to substance abuse treatment and help them navigate the child welfare system, hopefully reunifying the family. This program is designed to take a minimum of 12 months from participant entry to graduation, but can last longer. The program takes pre-filing, pre-adjudication, post-adjudication/pre-disposition and post-adjudication/post-disposition participants. Team members include the judge, program supervisor, executive director, case manager coordinator, case managers, court coordinator, FRP program liaison, re-engagement specialist, Department of Social Services (DSS) liaison, treatment providers, child’s attorney, and public defender.
Project Design: The project involved process, outcome, and cost evaluations of the FRP. Evaluation activities included site visits; key stakeholder interviews; focus groups with participants; and court, treatment, and child welfare data extraction.
Funding Source: Family Recovery Program
Start Date: February 2014
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