The primary mission of the FDTC is to improve the lives of children and their families by addressing the deprivation resulting from substance abuse of a parent or caregiver through an integrated, court-based, and multi-disciplinary team approach to achieve timely decisions, coordinated treatment and ancillary services, judicial oversight, and safe and permanent placements.
Since its inception in 2008, the FDTC has served 29 parents with long-term chronic and severe drug use. These participants have 84 biological children and six grandchildren whose lives were positively affected by their parent’s progress in the program.
Program goals to improve the lives of deprived children include:
- Facilitating quick entry into treatment for targeted families
- Retaining targeted families in treatment for a significant time
- Helping program participants live a lifestyle that is free of drugs and alcohol
- Promoting community stakeholders to conscientiously work together
- Complying with elements of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA)
Program Participants are required to:
- Become and remain drug and alcohol-free and submit to observed random drug screens 2-5 times a week with sanctions for failing to remain clean
- Attend weekly court sessions and complete weekly goals
- Allow Community Policing to visit the home without notice once a week
- Attend and complete intensive drug treatment, follow all treatment recommendations up to and including individual, group, family, marriage and or residential treatment as recommended, attend 1-3 AA sessions weekly
- Complete parenting classes and 2 family education programs
- Provide appropriate and stable housing for self and children
- Request and review personal credit report, develop a sustainable budget, and document an emergency fund
- Complete resume, cover letter, and referral document while seeking employment and documenting efforts until 35-40 hours of work has been obtained
- Attend all scheduled visitation and demonstrate healthy parenting skills
To date, total grant funding secured in 5 separate awards totaling $114,828 was utilized to:
- Assist the county in the development and implementation of the FDTC
- Provide individual counseling and case management for participants
- Provide assistance with the lingering legal issues that inhibited the parents’ ability to progress
- Organize and implement the Community Policing Team
- Provide specialized training for the Community Policing and the FDTC Team
- Implement 2 ongoing evidenced based programs:
1) Celebrating Families: from the National Association of Children of Alcoholics for families in early recovery. Families affected by chemical dependency have unhealthy family rules such as: don’t talk, don’t trust, and don’t feel that have been passed down for generations. Many have false beliefs that they caused the disease, can cure the disease, and/or can control the disease. Celebrating Families examines how families are affected by chemical dependency and teaches skills to break those patterns.
2) Strengthening Families is an evidenced based SAMSHA program, for families in recovery to teach healthy family functional skills such as improving behavior, increasing communication, decreasing overt aggression, and preventing child drug use.
The programs are taught in sequence and begin with a family meal, followed by an age appropriate break-out session, and then a family based processing group.
The multi-disciplinary team meets weekly and includes representatives of:
- The Juvenile Court, Judge Patricia P. Stone and Coordinator
- Special Assistant Attorney General
- Private Parent Attorney
- Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
- Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS)
- Recovery Place, Inc
- Community Policing through the Chatham County Sheriff’s Department
- Judicial Citizen Panel Review
- Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless
- Safe Shelter, Inc
The FDTC team members have been the recipients of numerous awards and nominations to include:
Leo Beckmann Jr., 2010 Child Advocate Award from the State Bar of Georgia Young Lawyers Division Juvenile Law Committee in the category of Deprivation – Legal Advocate in recognition of his demonstrated commitment and service, above and beyond the call of duty, to children and families in Georgia.
J. Michael Love: 2010 Juvenile Court Attorney of the Year from the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children in recognition of his demonstrated outstanding commitment to children and families in Georgia.