The central London-based pilot Family Drug and Alcohol Court aims tostop children being taken into care by putting families with drink anddrug problems on rigorous support programmes.
The court will bring together Camden Council, Westminster Council,Islington Council, social workers, lawyers, voluntary groups and theChildren and Family Court Advisory and Support Service to work togetherto get parents to change their ways.
It is hoped the project will avoid the need for families to enter thefamily court system.
Catherine Doran, assistant director of children, schools and family atCamden, said: "Parents with the most chronic addictions don't realisethey can lose their child until they are in a family court. Only then domany of them realise they need to give up their habit and buck up theirideas.
"The idea of the court is to bring together different expertise so earlyaction can be taken with families to help them stay together. And, whenthis early intervention is ineffectual, it makes the process of takingthe child into care quicker since other options have already beentried."
The Department for Education and Skills has committed 1.35m tothe three-year project and the three London boroughs involved areproviding a further 1.6m.While the court doesn't have legalstatus, the idea was floated in the Care Matters green paper. The courtwill begin its work in November this year.
