From 2014 through 2019, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) funded the Statewide System Improvement Program (SSIP).  Funds supporting this initiative allowed communities to provide services to all families affected by parental substance use disorders (SUDs) in the child welfare system, in addition to those families specifically served by Family Treatment Courts (FTCs). The SSIP initiative leveraged decades of research on FTC practice and supported states and communities to adopt more effective practices across broader family and juvenile court dockets. When these practices are implemented, they generate effective change that occurs simultaneously across a variety of agencies and systems. Considering, constructing, and unleashing a “new approach” has been demonstrated to significantly improve outcomes for families who are affected by parental SUDs involved in the child welfare system.

SSIP was a multi-year initiative that funded phases for planning, piloting change strategies, and initial implementation. The goals of SSIP were to:

• Implement and institutionalize effective FTC practices into state-level child welfare, SUD treatment, and court system practice
• Ensure all families affected by SUDs and involved with child welfare have access to a comprehensive array of services to improve child, parent, and family outcomes
• Strengthen cross-system collaboration at the state and local level

Each of the state awardees assigned a state-level project director who was partially funded through the award to facilitate planning and coordination.  CCFF was contracted to provide in-depth TTA to SSIP awardees; the objective was to strengthen, develop, and improve statewide policies that allowed awardees to effectively serve more families affected by parental substance use. Each grantee was assigned a pair of change leaders to provide ongoing support as teams worked through the multiple challenges and complex processes of systems improvement. Contextual factors, such as demographics, geography, governance, state laws, and local statutes reflect the complexity of systems change and underscore the need for customized and in-depth technical assistance and peer-to-peer support.

In 2014, the state agencies selected to receive SSIP funding were:

• Alabama Administrative Office of Courts
• Colorado Judicial Department
• Judicial Branch of Iowa
• New York State Unified Court System
• Supreme Court of Ohio

In October 2016, the Judiciary of Guam received SSIP funding as part of a second round of awards.  See below map to access the awardees’ profiles.

For more information about the SSIP initiative, see the featured publications and resources below.