Family Drug and Alcohol Court National Unit secures funds to reopen

The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) National Unit was forced to close in September last year, after Department for Education (DfE) funding was withdrawn.

Charities had feared the FDACs, which serve 20 local authorities, would be left to "wither on the vine" without the unit, which supported the courts with promotion, training and research.

But the private backers have pledged more than £280,000 to fund a new national partnership, which has plans not only to support the existing areas, but to extend the FDAC model across the family justice system.

Phil Bowen, director of charity the Centre for Justice Innovation, which will direct the unit, described the outcome as a "milestone" for families across the country.

"There is no dispute about the value of the work undertaken by the FDACs since they were first established," said Bowen.

"They get to the root of difficulties faced by parents struggling with substance misuse using a therapeutic, problem-solving approach, giving vulnerable children a better start in life, keeping families together and saving taxpayer money.

"The FDAC National Unit was instrumental in growing the FDAC network from one pilot court in London to 13 such courts across the UK during a decade in which the number of applications to the family courts for care proceedings actually doubled.

"We now have the means to reinvigorate efforts to spread the benefits of the model far wider and to work with others in both national and local government as well as in the judiciary to secure additional funding and support for FDACs to carry out their work well into the future."

Around the UK there are currently nine specialist FDAC teams, working in courts in 20 local authority areas in: London, Gloucestershire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Coventry, Kent and Medway, Southampton, Leeds, and Armagh.

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Kathy Butcher, treasurer and council officer for The Professional Association for Children's Guardians, Family Court Advisers and Independent Social Workers (Nagalro), said the organisation was "extremely pleased" to hear of the development.

Butcher said: "We think the FDAC is a model for all family courts and the education unit is essential.

"It's unfortunate that the funding has had to come from private backers, but it's a sign of the times.

"In the long term, it should be funded by the DfE, but tor the moment, it's essential."

Other partners involved in the running of the unit are the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and RyanTunnardBrown, a consultancy specialising in social policy, law and education, both of whom have been critical to the continued growth of FDACs over the last decade.

The FDAC network has been built on the success of the first such court, which was set up with cross-government funding in 2008 by Judge Nicholas Crichton, who died last year.

FDAC involves a team of social workers, psychiatrists or psychologists, substance misuse specialists and domestic violence experts working closely with the FDAC judge, parents and relevant services.

Cases are dealt with in care proceedings but, in addition to the usual court hearings, the parents involved meet the same judge every two weeks to track their progress.

According to the unit, independent academic research shows that mothers dealt with by the FDACs are 53 per cent more likely to have stopped their substance abuse and 48 per cent more likely to be reunited with their children than those going through ordinary care proceedings.

It said that a major review of the care system, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and published last June, recommended that the DfE and the Ministry of Justice learn lessons from the FDAC model of care proceedings, to help alleviate what it described as a "crisis" in children's social care and the family justice sector.

In response to the DfE's withdrawal of funds, a campaign was launched by the co-founders of Hall Brown Family Law, following a meeting with Judge Crichton and the Earl of Listowel, who is one of the FDACs' most prominent parliamentary advocates.

It was subsequently backed by LCM Wealth, which advises high net-worth families; family law firm Family Law in Partnership; and AddCounsel, a provider of bespoke behavioural health programmes.

Together with other anonymous supporters and the Hadley Trust, they have agreed to cover the costs of an initial six-month test period starting in April and - if the trial is successful - the part-funding of the new partnership's first four full years of operation.

Bowen said that the centre was spearheading the push to secure further sources of funding both for the partnership and the wider FDAC network.

He added that the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust staff will contribute to the training of new FDAC teams and judges as well as providing advice on the setting up of new FDACs.

Bowen said the news was a "suitable tribute" to Judge Crichton, who died of cancer shortly before Christmas.

He added: "I hope that Nick would be delighted that a partnership has been put in place which is dedicated to strengthening the approach which he championed for so long.

"During the course of the last seven months of discussions about how best to safeguard its future, he and all the unit's supporters remained convinced of its national importance.

"Even though ministers were unable to provide funding in the summer, we appreciate the previous role of government in fostering the growth of the FDAC network and remain hopeful that they will be able to contribute to their continued growth once more."