Amplifying Parents' Voices in Child Welfare Specialty Courts Focused on Domestic Violence and Substance Use

Abstract Information: The child welfare field typically focuses on case outcomes such as time to reunification and re-entry as indicators of program effectiveness. The experiences and opinions of parents and professionals involved with the system are less commonly considered in the development of policies and programs as well as evaluation of the overall system. Over the past few years, evaluators have begun considering parental perspectives more and more, although the published literature generally suffers from small sample sizes. In this presentation, we explore how parents’ and professionals’ voices influenced the design and evaluation of two specialty child welfare courts – Family Treatment Drug Court (FTDC) and Safe & Healthy Families Court (SHFC) in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Both courts began with a recognition that they could improve the policy and procedures they utilize in child welfare cases. Needs assessments revealed the need for professionals with specialized knowledge in domestic violence and substance use, for more frequent communication, and for more direct involvement of parents. These recommendations led to the establishment of problem-solving courts with designated teams of child welfare staff and attorneys with additional training in domestic violence and substance use. The courts also adopted the practice of having monthly team meetings for each case that include parents and the judge, as well as child welfare staff, attorneys, and guardians ad litem, in the discussion and decision-making processes. The Family Treatment Drug Court includes fast-tracking of treatment access and peer facilitators to work with parents in addressing their substance use and parenting challenges. The Safe & Healthy Families Court models much of its work on the Safe & Together Model in partnering with the survivor in addressing concerns and focusing on the abuser’s behavior. The Nebraska Resource Project for Vulnerable Young Children evaluates both FTDC and SHFC. To evaluate the effectiveness of these new court approaches, we include both traditional child welfare outcome measures (e.g., case progression, compliance with ordered services) and parents’ perceptions of the process and experience. Currently we have evaluation data for more than 300 FTDC/SHFC cases and more than 200 comparison cases. Generally, we find that parents report more positive experiences in the specialty courts in terms of feeling respected, having their voices heard, feeling understood, and that they are part of a team working to make things better. In this presentation, we focus on how parents’ voices influenced the structure and processes in Lancaster County’s child welfare specialty courts. We present data on parents’ perceptions of procedural justice and the relationship between those perceptions and case outcomes. We also discuss how including parents’ voices in the ongoing evaluation deepens our understanding of how and why certain practices lead to more promising outcomes. Finally, we share tips on practices we’ve found increase parents’ willingness to participate in evaluation.