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Family Drug Courts in Child Welfare

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Abstract

Parental substance abuse is increasingly recognized as a significant factor in cases of child maltreatment (Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse 1999). In response to the burgeoning number of drug cases that flooded the child welfare system, policy makers created a “treatment-focused” family drug courts in the late 1990s as reported by Lu (Children’s Legal Rights Journal 21:32–42, 2001). The purpose of this paper is (1) to review the policy and theory behind family drug courts, (2) to review empirical evidence of family drug courts, and (3) develop policy and intervention implication based on this review.

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Correspondence to Sam Choi.

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Choi, S. Family Drug Courts in Child Welfare. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 29, 447–461 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0272-2

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