Lessons Learned from a Coalition-Driven Implementation of a Family Treatment Court In a Rural Mid-Atlantic Region County

The multitude of adverse effects of substance use disorders is well-outlined in prevention and treatment literature, including a correlation between child welfare cases and parental drug use. In 2018, a cross-sector network in a rural county in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States applied action research to address a significant spike in substance-related child welfare cases. The network implemented a Family Treatment Court (FTC), an empirically supported model that has historically demonstrated success in reducing parental substance use and higher rates of family reunification compared to other approaches. Community input and planning guided this project through the iterative process of action research. Lessons learned include (a) maintaining fidelity to inclusion-exclusion criteria, (b) individualizing FTC participant treatment needs, (c) applying sanctions consistently among program participants, (d) offering a support group to participants, and (e) providing a continuum of recovery supports.