Dunklin County, Missouri, 35th Judicial Circuit, Family Treatment Court

Kennett, MO

The Enhancement of Services to Children Affected by Methamphetamine in the 35 th Judicial Circuit Family Treatment Court Grant will expand and enhance the services provided to the children and families of the 35th Judicial Circuit Family Dependency Treatment Court (FDTC). The goals are to provide an effective case management system; to increase access to supportive services for the children; to increase the clients' understanding of healthy child development; and to assist in the ongoing care of their children. These goals will be met through the following objectives; creation of a service coordinator position to assess family needs and make appropriate referrals, strengthening partnerships with community resources, contracting with a parent aid, implementing the evidence-based strengthening families program, and providing support services for the parents.

The 35th Judicial Circuit has four fully operational drug court programs. The Dunklin County Adult Drug Court began accepting clients in 1998, and the Stoddard County Adult Drug Court began accepting clients in 1999. The Dunklin County FDTC began accepting participants in November of 2004. The Dunklin County Juvenile Treatment Court began accepting clients in February of 2009. The adult and family programs are currently receiving funding from the Missouri Drug Courts Coordinating Commission for treatment and drug testing. The FDTC received an implementation grant from OJJDP that will end June 30, 2010.

The population to be served by this grant includes the children (ages 0-17) affected by methamphetamine whose families are participating in the FDTC. Because Dunklin County is a small, rural community the 35 th Circuit is applying as a multi-county partnership. The Stoddard County Adult Drug Court uses a family treatment court model due to the number of participants with children in the family court system. The Dunklin County Adult Treatment Court considers participants as dual track with the FDTC if they have children involved in the family court system. Access to services will be simple to facilitate as the courts are in the same Judicial Circuit and several team members are on all of the treatment teams. All of the Circuit's treatment courts incorporate the 11 Key Elements of a Family Treatment Drug Court.

The project will serve a minimum of 20 parents annually, and a minimum of 40 children. Over the lifetime of the project a minimum of 80 parents and 160 children will receive services. Since implementation the FDTC has served 78 parents, 70 Caucasian and 8 African Americans. Ages ranged from 19-50, including 24 ages 19-24, 43 ages 25- 34, and 11 ages 35-50.