Combining Drug & Alcohol Counseling with Family Court

Pink Tape's Family Drug & Alcohol Court has me wondering if the following kind of program would work here:

"FDAC is a voluntary scheme which provides parents of children in the care system with the opportunity to undergo therapy and treatment in order to deal with their substance abuse problems, with the goal of reuniting parent and child and avoiding permanent placement elsewhere. This seems like an excellent scheme, as resources targeted at parents are scarce - parents will rarely be funded by local authorities to undergo treatment, and whilst some support is available through the NHS, waiting lists mean that help via this route comes too late to affect the outcome of the care proceedings. The pilot is funded jointly by central government and three London Boroughs...."

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In an ideal world resources of this kind need to be available before matters have reached the threshold for care proceedings, but where the impetus for such pilots is from within the judiciary as it is here there is of course no power to affect the system prior to the court’s involvement.

Factoring in Indiana's reluctance to fund many parts of our government, I am not so sure that we would try anything like this. Ignore that drugs and alcohol create major problems in and for families. We do love our War on Drugs.

I admit the system outlined above is foreign enough (and no pun is intended) that I might be wrong but I think this corresponds more to our Child in Need of Services (CHINS) cases which are part of the juvenile court system than to our more common divorce cases.

Those reading this who think that this kind of program would be a good idea for Indiana should contact their local state representative and state senator.