The Sacramento Dependency Drug Court: Development and Outcomes

Abstract

Dependency Drug Courts (DDCs) are a growing method of addressing the functional status and reunification success of families involved in child welfare and affected by substance use disorders. Despite widespread interest in DDCs, few evaluations have appeared in the literature to help inform the discussion about their effectiveness. This article provides a description of various types of DDCs and reports 24-month reunification rates from the Sacramento DDC. Results indicated that DDC participants had higher rates of treatment participation than did comparison participants. In addition, at 24 months, 42% of the DDC children had reunified versus 27.2% of the comparison children. There were no differences in treatment completion or child reunification rates by parent's primary drug problem. Rates of recidivism were extremely low for both the DDC and comparison groups and did not differ significantly. The results of the present study are encouraging and suggest that rigorous, controlled studies are merited to further evaluate the effectiveness of DDCs.

Advancing Collaborative Practice Between Substance Abuse Treatment and Child Welfare Fields: What Helps and Hinders the Process?

“…Research on families in child welfare, parents in treatment, and families of substance-exposed infants suggests that a majority of families involved or at risk for involvement in the child welfare system in the United States are impacted by parental substance abuse problems (Boles, Young, Moore, & DiPirro-Beard, 2007;Carter & Myers, 2007;Connell-Carrick, 2007;Smith, Johnson, Pears, Fisher, & DeGarmo, 2007;Vanderploeg, Caron, Saunders, Katz, & Tebes, 2007;Young, Boles, & Otero, 2007). Concern over the correlation between substance abuse and child welfare, as well as growing recognition of the importance of consistency in caretaking in child development, has generated a number of policy changes on both national and state levels.…”

Illuminating the Black Box From Within: Stakeholder Perspectives on Family Drug Court Best Practices

“…For example, Worcel, Furrer, Green, Burrus, and Finigan (2008) found that FDC children spent less time in foster care and were more likely to experience reunification than matched comparison children in the traditional court. Boles, Young, Moore, and DiPirro-Beard (2007) found that more FDC families reunified at 12, 18, 24, and 36 months than comparison families. More recently, Chuang, Moore, Barrett, and Young (2012) found that FDC participation significantly increased the likelihood of reunification, and decreased the odds that the child would reenter foster care within 12 months.…”

Empirical evidence on legal levers aimed at addressing child maltreatment

“…Of the two, there is more evidence that FDTCs increase reunification rates; nine studies found an increase in reunification for participants (Ashford, 2004;Boles, Young, Moore, & DiPirro-Beard, 2007;Burrus, Mackin, & Finigan, 2011;Chuang, Moore, Barrett, & Young, 2012;Dakof et al, 2010;Gifford, Eldred, Vernerey, & Sloan, 2014;Green, Furrer, Worcel, Burrus, & Finigan, 2009;Green, Rockhill, & Furrer, 2007b;Worcel, Furrer, Green, Burrus, & Finigan, 2008). Several studies found reduced time spent in foster care for children of participants (Bruns, Pullmann, Weathers, Wirschem, & Murphy, 2012;Burrus et al, 2011;Gifford et al, 2014;Green, Furrer, Worcel, Burrus, & Finigan, 2007a;Worcel et al, 2008), although one study reported longer stays (Chuang et al, 2012) and another found the effect varied by court (Green et al, 2009).…”