Dunklin County Family Treatment Court earns national distinction

KENNETT -- The Dunklin County Family Treatment Court has been selected as one of five new Family Drug Court Peer Learning Courts of Excellence in the nation. This brings the total number of these recognized courts to nine, nationally. Dunklin County is one of only two rural jurisdictions to receive this honor.

"We are pleased to expand this program by partnering with these excellent courts," said Dr. Nancy Young, Director of Children and Family Futures, the agency that administers the program for The U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). "We understand that Family Drug Court teams want to know how other courts are overcoming barriers and implementing collaborative solutions. The Peer Learning Court Program responds by connecting court, child welfare and treatment professionals with their peers. The sharing of practice-based knowledge through these connections has been extremely valuable to court programs and the larger Family Drug Court field."

The purpose of the Dunklin County Family Treatment Court is to reunify families that have entered the Juvenile Court System and have had children removed from their custody, due to substance abuse.

"We have seen a marked improvement in the results for these parents and their children," said 35th Circuit Court Associate Judge Mark Preyer, who presides over the Juvenile Court in Dunklin County. "But more than that, we have created a much better, cooperative approach to dealing with a very serious problem in our community. We believe that, in many of these cases, we are breaking this cycle of addiction that has existed in some of these families for multiple generations."

In addition to the recognition, the Peer Learning Court of Excellence selection entitles the Dunklin County Family Treatment Court to serve as a learning incubator. In that capacity, Dunklin County will host visiting family treatment court teams from around the country who are developing their own programs, participate in peer-to-peer learning activities, participate in webinars and presentations highlighting best practices in the field, and assist developing programs in any way possible.

The selection as a peer learning court was based on the court's historical track record, which included a demonstrated use of sound, evidence-supported practices and policies, a strong collaboration among the court, child welfare and substance abuse treatment agencies, and community partnerships. According to Drug Court Commissioner Phillip Britt, who oversees the Dunklin County Family Treatment Court, "In 2003, several of us, including Chief Deputy Juvenile Officer Tommy Campbell and Drug Court Administrator Julie Spielman, believed that there was a great need for a court-supervised treatment program for parents whose children had been removed because of their inability to adequately parent, because of drug or alcohol abuse." Dunklin County had been operating a criminal drug court program since 1998. The court applied and was approved to attend the Family Treatment Court Planning Initiative presented by the OJJDP in 2004.

In December of 2004, the Family Treatment Court welcomed its first families. According to Spielman, "Since January 1, 2008, which is when the State of Missouri began tracking the data for treatment courts, 98 participants have exited the program. Of those 98 participants, 43 successfully completed all of the program requirements and graduated, and many other families were successfully reunified, despite not completing all of the requirements of the program. We are very proud that of those 98 participants, successful completions or otherwise, only 6 families have had new abuse and neglect cases open since exiting the program."

Families are referred by the Juvenile Court at the time of the children's removal, a substance abuse assessment is done, and a recommendation is given to the Juvenile Court accepting the parent into the program. The program generally lasts a year, during which the participants receive intensive substance abuse treatment, parent aide services, and case management assistance in areas such as education, employment, appropriate housing, and life skills. The needs of the entire family are assessed and assistance is provided by referring to the appropriate community resources.