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Iowa Senate President says treatment courts are good for families

justice1DES MOINES – Iowa Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, says that Family Treatment Drug Courts are good for Iowa families.

“A new approach to keeping families together is seeing success in Iowa,” Jochum said this week. “Family Treatment Courts work with community professionals to help Iowans struggling with substance abuse or other problems that put them at risk of losing their parental rights. Legislators heard about the good work of Family Treatment Courts from Kurt Wilke, Chief Judge of Iowa’s Second Judicial District in Fort Dodge.”

Jochum said that as of September 2013, 496 families, including 587 parents and 954 children, have participated in Family Treatment Courts.

“The results are spectacular: 79 percent of children go home to their parents within 12 months, and 94 percent of the kids suffer no further abuse or neglect.”

The Family Treatment Courts are comprised of a presiding judge and a team, including: Department of Human Services staff, attorneys and community partners. Parents can volunteer to participate in the program if one is available in their county. The program includes weekly meetings, intensive supervision of parents, and addressing concerns parents may be coping with, such as mental health issues, domestic abuse, housing, transportation, employment and child visitation.

There are currently federally funded Family Treatment Courts in Linn, Polk, Scott, Wapello, Cherokee/Ida and Woodbury counties. There are also five “emerging” Family Treatment Courts in Webster, Buena Vista, Warren, Johnson and Washington/Keokuk counties, which were started by local officials.

Jochum said that more Family Treatment Courts may be available soon – as other counties seek to replicate their “proven success” – as long as federal funding is continued.

The federal funding to Iowa has totaled $3.5 million over seven years but will end in September 2014.

“Ensuring that Family Treatment Courts continue and expand in Iowa is a good investment,” Jochum explained. “The six pilot projects have saved taxpayers $4.6 million. More important, families are staying together, and parents struggling with addiction break the cycle when they learn to raise their children responsibly and become contributing members of society.”

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady wants to see the program expanded; he explained why during his State of the Judiciary address on January 15th.

“Our Family Treatment Courts offer much promise as part of this new solution. They work intensively with a community treatment team of human services workers, substance abuse counselors, mental health providers, and many others to help parents overcome their addictions and assume responsibility for their lives,” Cady said.

“One problem we face, today, is that our Family Treatment Courts are sprinkled across the state and can only help a fraction of Iowa’s troubled parents and at-risk children. Additionally, the federal funding for these pilot courts expires this summer. Even as federal funding is about to run out, more and more people are asking us to expand Family Treatment Courts into their communities,” Cady said. “We all know that family services of such critical importance should not be limited to only a handful of communities. All Iowans will benefit from a systematic statewide implementation of Family Treatment Courts. This is what we should do.”

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