McLean County is launching a problem-solving court aimed at helping families with substance use within the child welfare system.
It’s called Family Treatment Court, and it’s the first of its kind to be registered in the state. As of 2019, 48 other states already had Family Treatment Courts and that same year a meta-analysis revealed that families to go through the program were two times more likely to reunify.
Judge Rebecca Foley said the goal in McLean County is to start serving families as early as March, but there’s still paperwork to be filed before that can happen.
Family Treatment Court Coordinator Kaitlynn Stigall said these services are needed.
“Unfortunately, I think that our substance use and dependency in our community is very large right now,” she said. “And the majority of those people do have small children at home or children of any age.”
These families, she explained, would be the prime candidates for the county’s latest problem-solving court. Family Treatment Court would meet weekly — to start — with participants, providing services and support with the ultimate goal of keeping any children in the home.
“It's a little bit more hands-on than what just normal child welfare cases have just because of staffing and time and availability,” Stigall said.
Carle BroMenn Medical Center will offer substance use services as a community partner. Foley said there will be other resources available to program participants as well.
“We're going to be surrounding them with other services and support,” she said. “If they need help with housing, if they need help with their education, finding employment, this team is also going to be able to assist them with that. And so while clients may have some of these resources in their regular case, we're really going to be ramping up the level of that support and services that they receive here to hopefully achieve successful outcomes.”
The county has been working on this effort for at least two years. It received a planning grant in 2022 from the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts to explore the viability of such a program in the area.
In 2023, the office presented the county with a second grant of around $85,000 to start implementation. This is a one-year terminal grant, though Foley said alternative revenue streams are already being considered. It may be possible to apply for a grant renewal as well.
While there’s no current target for participants, Foley said she’d like to see at least 20 families served.
“If we can adjust and build upon that, we will do that,” she said. “Wanting to do it right means we’re going to have to… start smaller and start slower.”
Broad goals for the Family Treatment Court are outlined in the county’s Jan. 3 Finance Committee meeting agenda.
Those objectives are as follows: “Ensure that children have safe and permanent homes within permanency planning [timelines] (or sooner),” “ensure that families of color have outcomes from dependency cases similar to families not of color,” and “ensure that parents are better able to care for themselves and their children, and to seek resources to be able to do so.”
