Best Practices in Family Treatment Courts – A Basic Primer

Family Treatment Courts are a collaborative, therapeutic, dependency court model that began operating in the 1990s and now have grown to include over 500 courts in the United States alone. These courts are designed to bring together teams of child welfare professionals, courts, and advocates, to help families overcome substance use disorders, reunite, and recover together. In Washington State, we have more than 20 courts operating under an FTC model, as well as numerous similar court models (Healing to Wellness, Early Childhood, ICWA). These courts are all working across systems to try to bring heal and hope to families.
In 2019 the Center for Child and Family Futures (CFF) and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), published the Family Treatment Court Best Practice Standards to establish a repository of the best practices for successful outcomes in FTCs. This talk will give a brief overview of the 8 Best Practice Standards, compare some of the other therapeutic dependency courts types, give some context for how we’ve seen them operate in Washington State. If you are new to therapeutic courts or dependency cases, this presentation should give you insight on the therapeutic court model and direct you to helpful resources, such as our WA FTC website (https://www.wacita.org/ftc-best-practices-101/), where you can learn more.

*If time slots are available, a second session for those more experienced in family treatment courts will also be available