Family Drug and Alcohol Court [FDAC] - Findings from the FDAC evaluation (1 September 2012)

The Family, Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) is a specialist problem solving court with a multi-disciplinary team which works with the court during care proceedings in which the issues involved are centred on the parent’s drug or alcohol misuse. It began hearing cases in January 2008. FDAC essentially uses the process of the care proceedings to motivate the parents to engage in substance misuse treatment. FDAC aims to provide speedy expert assessments, support to parents, and links to the local authority services and quick access to a dedicated team of children’s guardians. It additionally aims to have judicial continuity as there are two dedicated FDAC Judges.

FDAC was evaluated by a research team at Brunel University, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Home Office. The study considered all cases which included 55 families with 77 children who entered FDAC in the first 18 months and compared them with ordinary cases in care proceedings involving parent’s misuse of substances during the same period which was 31 families with 49 children. All the cases were considered for a 6 month period and 60 were followed to final order. The study followed 41 mothers and concluded that 48 per cent (19) were no longer abusing substances which were higher than the mothers in the comparison group. It also concluded that 36 per cent of fathers in the FDAC group had stopped misusing substances.

The evaluation additionally concluded that there was a higher rate of family reunification in the FDAC group and that 39 per cent were reunified with their children compared with 21 per cent in the comparison group. As the FDAC parents were able to access treatment services quicker in the first 6 months, successfully engaged throughout the proceedings and received more help from other services.

The findings additionally confirmed that, whilst the length of the proceedings on average was the same as care proceedings in the comparable group in the FDAC cases where parents and children were together at final order the proceedings were extended by only 8 weeks. In cases where reunification was not possible it too on average 7 weeks less for alternative planning to be made for the child and swift decisions were made for those parents unable to address their substance misuse.

Finally the evaluation concluded that FDAC provides cost benefits for local authorities and there will be potential savings for the court and the Legal Services Commission. The average cost of the FDAC team per family is £8,740 and the cost is offset by the savings to local authorities from more children staying within their family. FDAC also reduces costs throughout the care proceedings in relation to shorter care placements, shorter court hearings and less need for legal representatives at hearings and fewer contested cases. As the specialist team undertakes the work of experts in care cases this saves £1,200 per case. There is scope for FDAC to have a further impact in the long term by saving money across other services such as adult treatment, health and probation.

The overall conclusion appears that the FDAC model is successful at tackling such a common issue as parental substance misuse which often transcends throughout generations. However currently only three local authorities are part of the FDAC scheme; Islington, Westminster and Camden and it seems a travesty that more authorities are not involved as this is a model that has shown significant success which should be built on for the future.

Author – Sophie Fretten is a Legal 500 recommended Child Care Legal Specialist, Solicitor Advocate and Head of Duncan Lewis’ Child Care Department.