WP3401 - Black Country Family Drugs and Alcohol Court (FDAC) Partnership

Tender description

Walsall MBC has invited other Local Authorities in the Black Country to form a collaboration to deliver a Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) in the Wolverhampton Justice centre FDAC delivers improved outcomes for children involved in care proceedings and offers an alternative and more successful way of supporting parents to overcome substance misuse, mental health and domestic abuse problems that have put their children at risk of serious harm. It offers parents optimism about recovery and rehabilitation combined with a realistic understanding of the immense challenge they face. Dudley MBC, Sandwell Childrens Trust and Walsall MBC and Wolverhampton Justice centre will form the 'Black Country FDAC'. They are supported by CAFCASS. Brief Summary of Service FDAC is rooted in the idea of problem-solving justice, where courts use their authority to address the complex social issues that bring people before them. FDAC was set up to address the issue of parents, particularly mothers, having children removed through care proceedings on a recurrent basis, without attention being paid to the parental problems underlying the need for removal. The FDAC model is an adaptation of a model developed in the United States. Cases which come into FDAC are commonly those where parental substance misuse is impacting on parental capacity, but in the majority of cases there are also concerns about domestic abuse and parental mental health problems. The FDAC process takes place within care proceedings and involves a multi-disciplinary specialist team working closely with the court, specially trained judges who deal with the case throughout, and regular judge-led reviews of the parents' progress, which are attended by parents, the specialist team, the social worker and the child's guardian. Parents have a key worker in the specialist team who does direct work with the parent and co-ordinates the other services involved with the child and family. The local authority holds responsibility for the child. FDAC processes have been adapted to take account of the 26-week timescale in care proceedings and its multi-disciplinary teams are co-located and dedicated to FDAC work. FDAC is radical yet obvious. It strengthens parents' motivation to overcome their problems and It gets families working successfully with social workers, adult treatment teams and judges in court. Families get every possible support and treatment. Expectations are clear and honest and the tasks and timescales for each family are broken down into manageable steps. FDAC offers parents optimism about recovery and change, combined with a realistic understanding of the immense challenge they face.