The McLean County Family Treatment Court, in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Carle BroMenn, The Center for Youth and Family Solutions, The Baby Fold and other community partners, has received a $750,000 federal grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to establish a family treatment court for court-involved adults in McLean County who are at risk of losing their children due to substance use issues.
McLean County is one of 10 grantees in the United States to receive funding.
For the past two years, court partners have been collaboratively planning the program, including site visits to Indiana and Iowa, states with robust family treatment court programs. Family treatment courts in the State of Illinois are largely non-existent.
According to the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, an estimated 40-80% of families involved in the child welfare system experience substance use problems. While these numbers vary by State and population, the percentage of children removed from homes due to parental alcohol or drug use has more than doubled in the past decade. [ii]
By providing comprehensive services overseen by a multidisciplinary team, coupled with frequent court appearances and the ability to monitor a parent’s progress in real time, the goal is to address failures more quickly in order to complete tasks in the case plan (and get the parent back on track), and incentivize progress where appropriate, ultimately resulting in more successful completions of treatment and reunifications.
Comprehensive evaluation of the McLean County Family Treatment Court will be conducted, resulting in broadening evidence-based practice and knowledge and leading to continuous quality improvement. The evaluation will be conducted by the National Center for State Courts.
The Family Treatment Court formally accepted its first participant into the program on October 16, 2024.
Associate Circuit Judge J. Brian Goldrick presides over Family Treatment Court, in addition to the child welfare courtroom. The FTC Program Coordinator is Kaitlynn Stigall.