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Click on a session below to view more information, including presenters and a description.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Supporting Healthy Attachments and Development for Young Children and their Parents
Raising the Bar - What you Need to Know about the Family Treatment Court National Best Practice Standards
Time: 9:15am – 12:15pm
Room: National Harbor 2-3
Session: SB – 5
Presenter(s): Jane Pfeifer, Kathryn Barry, Kirstin Frescoln, Lisa McElroy, Meghan Wheeler, Terrence Walton, Theresa Lemus
Abstract:
The Center for Children and Family Futures and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, with the support of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, have partnered in the development of the Family Treatment Court Best Practice Standards. The goal was to create model standards to: 1) guide the daily operations of FTC; 2) support state decisions regarding resource development and priorities; and, 3) improve outcomes for individuals, children, and families affected by substance use and mental health disorders who are involved in the child welfare system. This session will introduce policy leaders and local practitioners to the Standards and provide an opportunity to begin exploring how adoption of the Standards will improve FTC practice.
Learning Objectives:
- Summarize the need for and development of FTC Best Practice Standards and how they align with the National FTC Strategic Plan
- Explain how states and local jurisdictions can use the Standards to improve FTC practice and inform statewide standards and local policies and procedures
- Describe the ways that the Standards reflect earlier policy and practice guidance for family treatment courts
- Identify the 8 Standards and the provisions which describe each of the Standards
- Discuss how the Standards relate to your FTC’s current practice
Let’s Talk This Out! Recovery and Reunification in Family Treatment Court
Time: 1:45pm – 3:00pm
Room: Chesapeake GHI
Session: TS – 8
Presenters:Alexis Balkey, Russ Bermejo, Tessa Richter
Abstract:
Families involved in the child welfare system and affected by parental substance use disorders face a difficult and arduous journey toward achieving recovery and reunification goals within the time limits set by the Adoption and Safe Families Act. FTCs provide a pathway for achieving positive outcomes through interagency collaboration, coordinated and comprehensive service delivery addressing the needs of the entire family, and enhanced accountability. Once a family engages, they have a higher chance of experiencing successful outcomes. The presenters will discuss effective staffing and court hearing practices that improve cross-systems communication, examine the parent-child relationship, and assess the family’s strengths and needs to determine when it is safe and appropriate to return a child home. This workshop discussion will explore family engagement and family readiness as a collaborative practice challenge and the need for coordinated case plans and effective communication protocols across child welfare, treatment, and court systems. The audience will learn practice tips to collaboratively assess for readiness and put those recommendations into practice by engaging in an interactive simulation of a treatment team meeting and status review hearing.
Learning Objectives:
- Examine the importance of implementing effective engagement strategies for families affected by substance use disorders
- Learn various case management and cross-system communication strategies that assess for family
strengths and needs the support successful family recovery and family reunification - Witness first-hand how to enhance pre-court treatment team and status review hearings to ensure the needs of the family are being addressed shifting from “problem reporting” to “problem solving”
All Treatment Courts: Innovations to Improve Overall Family Functioning and Wellness
Time: 11:30am – 12:45pm EST
Session: CS-12
Presenter(s): Jane Pfeifer and Larisa Owen
Panelist(s): Audrey Clairmont and Honorable Marcia Hirsch
Abstract:
Substance use disorders have a profound effect on all relationships in the family unit. Recovery support must therefore address the needs of all family members. Research and practice experience have demonstrated that a multi-generational, comprehensive, family-centered treatment approach contributes to positive outcomes. In fact, therapeutic services for the entire family and enhanced parenting knowledge improve treatment, recovery, and well-being outcomes. Research has shown that when whole families are treated, outcomes for each individual member improve. By treating the family unit, treatment court teams can help families break the cycle of substance use, abuse, and neglect, thus creating opportunities for healthy and stable homes where children thrive. A growing body of knowledge has accumulated from evidence-based practice, collaborative practice models, and field research on how best to serve families affected by substance use.
This session will provide judicial leaders and treatment court professionals working in any treatment court concrete and cost-effective strategies for implementing a family-focused approach. This presentation will demonstrate why all treatment courts should focus more on the needs of all family members, including their children. The presentation will also show that cross-system collaboration and communication are critical for family safety and recovery. Effective family-centered treatment requires cross-systems coordination, collaboration, and service integration; a multidisciplinary team of qualified professionals; and leveraging all available partner and community resources. Panelists will share their motivations for focusing on the family unit, innovative family-centered strategies that all treatment courts could adopt, and how shifting toward a family focus has affected their outcomes. Attendees will leave with a call to action that identifies steps they can take to become family centered and improve outcomes for all families affected by substance use.
Learning Objectives:
- Bolster an understanding of the effect of substance use on the family unit and the importance of addressing the needs of the whole family as a critical part of recovery
- Gain knowledge of the critical role of cross-systems collaboration, communication, and community partnerships in serving the complex needs of children and families in your treatment court
- Learn innovative strategies, key lessons, and takeaways from a panel of treatment court programs that are transitioning to a family-centered approach
Show me the Money! A Family Treatment Court Cost-Offset Analysis
Time: 9:30am – 10:45am
Room: Chesapeake ABC
Session: B – 7
Presenter(s): Graig Crawford, Kelli Sutton, Marc Winokur
Abstract:
The Jefferson County (Colorado) Family Integrated Treatment (FIT) model drug court has been using quantitative and qualitative data for over ten years for program development and continuous quality improvement. This session will outline how the Jefferson County FIT team has used data to inform areas of potential improvement and make changes to the program resulting in improvements in outcomes for children and families. This session will focus on the internal evaluation efforts including the type of data collected, collection methods, and provide specific examples of how the data have been used to evaluate and improve the FIT program. This presentation will examine the results of the formal outcome and cost-offset evaluation conducted by the Colorado State University Social Work Research Center. Funded by the Prevention and Family Recovery grant administered through Children and Family Futures with the support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Duke Endowment, the evaluation provided a rigorous outcome and cost analysis of the FIT program using propensity score matching. In this section, the methodology used to identify and match FIT cases to a comparison group of cases also with substance use served in the traditional Child Welfare track will be described, the results and key findings of the evaluation and next steps will also be provided.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify what program and outcome data are useful for evaluation of family treatment courts (FTCs)
- Review examples of how data can be used to evaluate and improve FTC programs
- Discover key changes in Jefferson County FIT program that have resulted in improved outcomes
- Examine key child welfare outcome measures used in FTC program evaluation
- Identify statistical methods used to evaluate FTC outcomes (cohorts and propensity score matching)
- Review results of both internal program evaluation as well as formal outcome and cost evaluation with
Colorado State University
Fostering Hope and Healing - The Role of Resource Parents and Kinship Caregivers in Supporting Family Recovery and Reunification
Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm
Room: Chesapeake ABC
Track: C-7
Presenter(s): Alexis Balkey, Russ Bermejo,
Abstract:
As Family Treatment Court (FTC) programs are expanding and strengthening their collaborative partnerships, foster parents and kinship caregivers are being recognized as valuable members of the team for the important role they can play in supporting the goals of family recovery and family reunification. Foster parents are now commonly referred to as “resource parents” to reflect the critical role they have in the lives of families involved in the child welfare system. In addition to providing for the needs of the child, they can also be a source of support for the birth family as they seek to achieve recovery, safety, stability, and permanency. Resource parents can be a valuable source of information used for making important decisions regarding the child and family. This presentation will explore the important role of resource parents in supporting the family recovery and reunification process. This presentation will highlight the importance of facilitating quality and frequent family time, co-parenting with the birth parent, and providing a trauma-informed approach.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the important role resource parents and kinship caregivers have in supporting family recovery and reunification
- Highlight the essential topics and strategies for effective recruitment, training, and support of resource parents to better serve families affected by parental substance use
- Learn how FTCs are engaging resource parents as valued member of the FTC team
Downloads:
“Role of Resource Parents (2018).pdf” (2 MB)
“Team Discussion Guide – Role of Resource Parents.pdf” (171 KB)
Family Treatment Court Best Practice Implementation: The What, Why, and How
Time: 5:45pm – 7:00pm EST
Session: CS-18
Presenter(s): Alexis Balkey, Kathryn Barry, Kirstin Frescoln, and Theresa Lemus
Abstract:
After 25 years of practice experience and scholarly research, Family Treatment Court (FTC) practitioners now have a shared definition of the elements needed to establish and sustain an effective FTC. According to FTC best practices, it is essential to have a family-focused, community based, systems-thinking approach that centers on improving outcomes for all families affected by parental substance use disorders. By treating the family unit, FTC teams can help families break the cycle of substance use, abuse, and neglect, and pave the way to healthy, stable home environments where children can thrive.
Join this session to gain indispensable insight, encouragement, and strategies from the real experts: FTC teams doing the work. This interactive session will provide practitioners an opportunity to share approaches to breaking down barriers and applying best practices to fidelity to improve outcomes for children and families affected by substance use disorders.
Learning Objectives:
- Provide an overview of research-supported best practices in FTCs that help improve outcomes for children and families affected by substance use disorders
- Explore how FTCs across the country operationalize best practices
- Identify the concrete action steps FTC teams perform in self-assessment, implementation, and broader systems change
Connecting Veteran Treatment Courts and Veteran Justice Outreach Services through Collaborative Court Staffing
Time: 5:30pm – 6:45pm
Room: Annapolis 1-2
Track: VCC-E-8
Presenter(s): Larisa Owen and Honorable Mary Kreber Varipapa
Abstract:
This session will explore the need to establish connections between Veteran Treatment Courts (VTCs), teams of Veteran Justice Outreach (VJO) mentors, and probation staff and the existing family- and childserving agencies within the community. All collaborative courts are family courts when their participants include adults who have children. Recent survey results indicate that more than half of the participants served by VTCs are parents with children. Prioritizing family-centered approaches in VTCs is justified based on the trauma and substance use disorder service needs of veterans, their children, and families. Participants will gain a greater understanding of how to improve service delivery by examining the collaborative strategies within the Ten Element VTC Framework. Highlights of this presentation include particular attention to parental stress, family trauma, and the associated factors of disrupted parentchild relationships including deployment, reintegration, and separation from service. Presenters will make the case for family-centered approaches by drawing on their collective experience as part of a collaborative coalition in Orange County, California which provides services to veterans involved in collaborative courts (i.e., Veterans Treatment Court, Domestic Violence Court), mental health systems, and their children and families.
Learning Objectives:
- Develop an understanding about the importance of applying family-centered approaches through a continuum of services to address the unique needs of veterans, their children, and families
- Learn how to apply the key principles of the Ten Element VTC Framework to enhance collaboration, develop community partnerships, and improve service delivery to VTC participants
- Increase an awareness and advance knowledge about the associative factors affecting parent-child relationships including deployment, reintegration, and separation from service
Supporting Healthy Attachments and Development for Young Children and their Parents
Time: 1:45pm – 3:00pm EST
Session: CS-2
Presenter(s): Kim Coe and Russ Bermejo
Panelist(s): Honorable Caren Loguerico and Dr. Marian Silverman
Abstract:
Infants and young children (ages 0-5) grow and thrive when they have a relationship with a parent or adult caregiver who is nurturing and responsive to their needs. When parents or caregivers struggle with substance use disorders, it can negatively affect their capacity to provide young children with essential care. In addition, a lack of knowledge about child development or ineffective parenting skills or parental neglect, as well as parental stress and family trauma, has a profound negative effect on young children’s development and attachment. Children with unhealthy attachments are at much greater risk of delinquency, substance use, and depression later in life. Through multiagency, community-based, and family-focused approaches, Family Treatment Courts (FTCs) are pivotal in a family’s healing process. Panelists from family-centered FTCs will share how they implement specific parent-child
relationship-based interventions, such as Child-Parent Psychotherapy and Safe Care, to heal and strengthen the parent-child relationship, and support the child’s healthy social and emotional development. The session will demonstrate the importance of facilitating quality and frequent parenting time and establishing a positive co-parenting arrangement with foster and relative caregivers. It will also explore special topics, including the distinct bonding and attachment challenges of military and veteran families, fathers of young children, and pregnant and post-partum mothers.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the importance of parenting and caregiving in promoting healthy child development
- Present evidence-based programs and essential strategies that promote healthy attachment and heal the parent-child relationship
- Explore the importance of multiagency and community-based supports in supporting key recovery, safety, and permanency outcomes for families
- Improve understanding of how child welfare best practices support the creation of successful plans for quality parenting time
Federal Funders Forum
Time: 8:00am – 9:15am
Room: Baltimore 3-5
Track: CS – 5
Presenter(s): Theresa Lemus, Meghan Wheeler, Judge Michael Montero, Kisten Born, and Shawna Hopple
Abstract:
With the recent release of Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) treatment court funding solicitations, this always-popular session is even more timely. Hear directly from all of the federal funders who provide funding to support treatment courts regarding current funding opportunities. Senior staff from BJA, OJJDP, as well as Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) will conduct this interactive session. Get all your questions answered, including the outline of the selection process and factors that contribute to a stronger application.
2019 Annual OJJDP Family Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Grantee Gathering
Time: 3:15pm – 4:00pm
Room: Chesapeake ABC
Track: Closed Meeting
Presenter(s): Kathryn Barry, Theresa Lemus, FDC TTA Staff
Download Agenda:
Ensuring Reasonable Efforts for Families Affected by Parental Substance Use
Time: 7:00am – 8:45am
Room: Cherry Blossom Ballroom
Track: Table 21
Presenter(s): Graham Peper
Family Treatment Court Best Practice Standards
Time: 7:30am – 9:15am
Room: Cherry Blossom Ballroom
Track: Table 13
Presenter(s): Meghan Wheeler and Kirstin Frescoln