The need for more family drug and alcohol courts

Back in January at the Family Justice conference held at UCLan, I learnt of the family drug and alcohol court. You may not have heard of it, I certainly hadn’t. Piloted in London, the FDAC is a new way of dealing with care proceedings due to parental substance misuse. I was intrigued. What do they do and why isn’t there more of them?

The FDAC – the first of its kind in the UK, was established by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Its aim is to assist parents with the rehabilitation of drug/alcohol abuse, thus retaining or re-establishing their family unit. Unlike normal court proceedings, the parent is required to attend at regular intervals, usually every 14 days. A single judge is assigned to the family, and the “proceedings” consist of a ‘round the table chat’. A plan is established to address the issues facing the parent, which usually includes an intensive 28-day intensive programme of rehabilitation. Each fortnight the parent proves that they have taken positive steps to regain their sobriety, improving their chances to reunite with their child. A multi-disciplinary team address parenting ability, intervention plans, housing issues and domestic violence.[1] The relationship between parents, judge and the intervention team is built on trust and the ability to address the situation as equals.

Since 2011 the FDAC has won numerous awards.[2] The coalition government recognised the need for more of these courts throughout the country.[3] A study published in 2011 showed that 39% of FDAC Mothers were reunited with their children compared to 21% of Mothers who proceeded through the usual family court.[4] I was honoured to chat briefly to Sir James Munby – President of the Family Division of the High Court, at the conference. Sir Munby has been impressed with the outcome of the majority of FDAC cases. He firmly believes that the development is the way forward for the family court.

Just this year an extension to the FDAC has been backed by the government with a £2.5m cash injection to establish more courts across the country.[5] But how successful will this be? The Children’s Society claim that in London, 62% of children subject to care proceedings have parents who misuse substances. 78% of young offenders who have alcohol problems come from a family with a history of substance or domestic abuse. Up to 33% of known child abuse cases involve alcohol.[6] That’s scary.

I come from a relatively small village on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. A lovely, friendly and slightly upmarket area. Yet I still know (or know of) children subject to care orders because of domestic violence, neglect or substance abuse. Because it happens everywhere. It goes on all the time. We regularly hear of the public’s distaste of children “overlooked” by the authorities, or even distaste at the authorities “wrongly” taking children from their parents. It’s an emotive subject. At present there is a lot of emphasis on “rehabilitating” offenders rather than punishing them. The FDAC, in my opinion, can kill all these birds with one (rather innovative) stone. The parent can be given a chance to rehabilitate, the children have an increased chance to “come home”, thus freeing up fostering places and care orders for severe cases. Had a FDAC been established in my local area, I’d like to think that those parents I am aware of having lost their children, would have had a massive opportunity to become a family unit once more. Call it a second chance. And that’s why we need more of these courts

[1] S Berg, ‘Family Drug and Alcohol Courts to be extended in England’, BBC News (18 February 2015) accessed 02 July 2015 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31512532

[2] www.coram.org.uk/family-drug-and-alcohol-court/fdacs-awards

[3]Department for Education, ‘Family Drug and Alcohol Court to extend nationwide’ (19 February 2005) accessed 02 July 2015 www.gov.uk/givernment/news/family-drug-and-alcohol-court-to-extend-nationwide

[4] Coram, ‘Family Drug and Alcohol Court’ www.coram.org.uk/family-drug-and-alcohol-court accessed 02 July 2015

[5] Department for Education, ‘Family Drug and Alcohol Court to extend nationwide’ (19 February 2005) www.gov.uk/givernment/news/family-drug-and-alcohol-court-to-extend-nationwide

[6] The Children’s Society, ‘Swept under the carpet: Children affected by parental alcohol misuse’ (2010)

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