The CEI UK & Europe team was commissioned, along with partners Bryson Purdon Social Research, to undertake a study for What Works Children's Social Care (WWCSC). The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) is one of the approaches emerging from the UK Department for Education's Innovation Programme.
FDAC is a ground-breaking approach to address parental substance misuse, which research has shown is a major contributor to children being taken into care, with parents often involved in repeated care proceedings for subsequent children. The FDAC is a specialist court where a multi-disciplinary team (with expertise across social work, adult and child mental health, substance misuse and domestic abuse) work with a specially assigned judge, using a problem-solving, therapeutic approach in care proceedings.
Parental engagement is critical to the success of the FDAC, and the Behavioural Insights Team has been commissioned to develop a light-touch, low-cost intervention to support engagement. CEI and our partners are undertaking an implementation analysis and randomised controlled trial to test the impact of the intervention on engagement and on eventual outcomes including children's placements and parental substance misuse cessation.