A new factsheet from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs describes drug courts, in which court-directed programs aim to reduce drug use relapse. The factsheet highlights an array of multidisciplinary services, including risk and needs assessment, judicial monitoring and supervision, and treatment and rehabilitation services. Drug courts are tailored to address the specific needs of different populations. For example, family drug courts apply the drug court model to child welfare cases in which substance abuse is identified as a contributing factor to child abuse or neglect. These programs emphasize treatment to aid in the reunification and stabilization of families. The factsheet goes on to describe available DOJ programs that provide financial grants and other assistance to help States build drug court capacity and increase participation among the targeted populations. Link to pdf Factsheet
Tag Archives: neglect
Child Care & Child Welfare Partnership Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to enhance the important partnership between child care providers and family service workers in the child welfare system, with the goal of ensuring that foster children get the best care possible. As the division directors of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS)/Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (DCCECE), we know how important it is that we work together in the interests of the child. It is critical that child care providers understand the impact of abuse and neglect on children, the special role they can play in the lives of foster children and how they can partner with child welfare staff. It is equally important that child welfare staff understand the impact that experiences in child care have on children’s development and to partner with child care staff. Link to Toolkit
Children’s Rights: We Must Do Better: Child Abuse, Neglect, and Foster Care
American Bar Association: Too often child welfare systems across the country fail to meet the most basic obligations. We must do better. What can you, as a lawyer, do to make a difference?
1: Get Involved in ABA Efforts for Abused and Neglected Children
2: Volunteer for Pro Bono Work on This Issue
3: Assist in Training Your Judges and Lawyers Link to pdf Tip Sheet
Michigan Title IV-E Waiver Child Welfare Demonstration Project
Submitted to: Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, July 2012
Goals and Hypothesis: Michigan’s waiver demonstration will test the hypothesis that an array of intensive and innovative home-based preservation services tailored to the needs of individual families will prevent child abuse and neglect and decrease entry of children into foster care, and increase positive outcomes for children and families in their homes and communities and improve the safety and wellbeing of children. Over the life of the waiver, we expect a reduction in foster care maintenance expenditures and a commensurate increase in spending for services to safely maintain children in their own homes. Link to Waiver proposal
The Therapeutic Preschool: An Intensive Intervention for Traumatized 3-6 Year Olds
Summer 2012, Infant Crier, pp 4-8, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health: A certain number of children with significant challenges need continuing intervention past age 3. They and their parents have trouble making the transition from intensive home-based therapy to more limited or no services during the preschool years. For children, the difficulties of this transition show up as behavioral and emotional problems in childcare or Head Start programs that are not organized to provide therapeutic support. How might services be organized? Treatment would be organized to stress helping preschoolers master self-regulation difficulties by providing them with experiences of mutual regulation with parents and other adults. In addition, more intensive services would be available to preschoolers with significant histories of neglect, abuse, trauma, and loss. Discusses the Building Blocks Therapeutic Preschool program in Oakland, California. Many of the kids at Building Blocks, probably most at any given time, do not live with biological parents; they live instead with relatives and foster parents. Nearly all of the children have significant histories of early trauma and neglect. Link to pdf Infant Crier Issue
What You Need to Know about Child Well-Being and Serving Children in Family Drug Courts
July 11, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Parental substance use disorders are a factor in majority of CWS cases. Research linking the two issues is compelling. Substance use and child maltreatment are often multi-generational problems that can only be addressed through a coordinated approach across multiple systems working in conjunction to address the needs of both the parents and the children. Link to pdf Slides