Standing Committee on Substance Abuse

Development of Unified Family Courts to Assist Families with Substance Abuse Problems

In 1996, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the American Bar Association to develop and implement Unified Family Court systems in six selected sites: Atlanta, Georgia; San Juan, Guayama, and Aibonito, Puerto Rico; Seattle (King County), Washington; Baltimore, Maryland; and Cook County, Illinois. A Unified Family Court combines all the essential elements of traditional family and juvenile courts into one entity and contains other resources, such as social services, critical to the resolution of a family's problems. For a report of the grant results, please see http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/029319s.htm.

The Standing Committee continues developing programs integrating substance abuse treatment and prevention into family courts. Priorities include programs that enable family court judges and staff to intervene effectively in a family member's substance abuse. To further this commitment, the Standing Committee is working with various ABA entities, particularly the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Unified Family Courts (http://www.abanet.org/unifiedfamcrt/home.html).