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.