Subject:
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Notice of grant award from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for the Family Dependency Treatment Court.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the notice of grant award from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the Family Dependency Treatment Court (FDTC).
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Strategic Plan:
Ensure Public Health, Safety and Welfare
2.2 Be a facilitator, convener, and purchaser of services for those in need
Summary:
OJJDP has awarded the County a three (3) year grant for the FDTC program for the enhancement of the Sixth Judicial Circuit’s Unified Family Court. The program objectives are to lower the incidence of parental rights terminations for participating families, decrease the average time it takes to reunify a family and provide other ancillary services to parents to help bolster success. FDTC will provide substance-abusing parents support, treatment, and access to services that will protect children, reunite families and expedite permanency.
FDTC is a voluntary, one-year program that involves recurrent appearances before a drug court judge, substance abuse assessment and treatment, parenting classes, and frequent random drug testing. The program goals are to serve thirty (30) to thirty-five (35) individuals annually and reduce the incidence of substance use by participating parents, improve parenting skills, lower the incidence of drug exposed newborns and reduce reports of neglect or abuse. Outcomes to be tracked include average length of sobriety for clients graduating from drug court, number of drug-related arrests during participation, percentage of drug-free births and number of clients enrolled in the parenting program.
Background Information:
Pinellas County continues to see significant levels of addiction and substance abuse requiring more treatment resources. In 2015, the Medical Examiner reported 179 accidental deaths attributed to drug-related causes. Of these deaths, 98 were attributed to prescription drugs, 28 to illicit drugs, 41 to prescription and illicit drugs combined, 10 to acute alcohol, and 2 to inhalants. While this is down from a peak of 280 deaths in 2010, this is a slight increase from the 166 deaths reported in 2014.
According to a recent a Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau bulletin released in October 2014, an estimated twelve percent (12%) of children under eighteen (18) years of age in the United States live with at least one parent who was dependent on or abused alcohol or an illicit drug during the past year. This number equates to approximately 8.3 million children. Eckerd Community Alternatives, which contracts with the Department of Children and Families to oversee foster care and adoptions for 3,400 children in the County, reports that in their experience, at least 75 percent of the cases their staff noted substance abuse as a major contributing factor leading to the filing of the dependency petition. During one month (January 2012), Eckerd reported that prescription medication use alone accounted for 37% of custody removals.
Pinellas County data obtained from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration reveals that from 2009 to 2010 the amount of newborns addicted to drugs increased by an overall 34.2% and from 2008 to 2010 (2 years) the amount more than doubled.
The three (3) year FDTC program grant will enhance the Sixth Judicial Circuit’s Unified Family Court. The program objectives are to lower the incidence of parental rights terminations for participating families, decrease the average time it takes to reunify a family and provide other ancillary services to parents to help bolster success. FDTC will provide substance-abusing parents support, treatment, and access to services that will protect children, reunite families and expedite permanency.
Fiscal Impact:
For the project period, October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2019, the award amount is $600,000. No cash match is required. The total In-Kind match of $200,000 will be provided by the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
A budget resolution will be submitted for FY17 to recognize grant revenue from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and increase the expenditure appropriation for the Human Services Department, Justice Coordination Division.
Staff Member Responsible:
Lourdes Benedict, Director, Human Services
Partners:
Sixth Judicial Circuit
Guardian ad Litem Program
WestCare Gulfcoast-Florida, Inc.
Operation Par
Attachments:
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Notice of Grant Award
FDTC Logic Model
Project Abstract