The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC), which has achieved success with family cases involving addiction, is to be set up in about one quarter of family courts in England, where they will sit once a week.
The FDAC, which was developed by District Judge Nicholas Crichton, has been piloted in London since 2007, handing about 30 cases a year, and was recently successfully rolled out to Milton Keynes and Gloucestershire. A Brunel University evaluation last year found that 40% of mothers and 25% of fathers going through the court stopped misusing substances, compared with 25% of mothers and 5% of fathers who had been through care proceedings in ordinary family courts.
The FDAC is also more successful at bringing families back together—35% of mothers stopped misusing and were reunited with their children, compared with 19% of those in ordinary courts.
Jo Edwards, Resolution chair, says: “The results of the pilot FDAC speak for themselves—even more so when you hear the human stories.”
Meanwhile, children are to be given a bigger voice in child cases. Justice minister Simon Hughes told the Family Justice Young People’s Board last week that children aged 10 or over will be given an opportunity to have their views heard by the judge wherever decisions would affect them, whether in care proceedings or child arrangements disputes. Options will include meetings, letters or pictures and a “court gaming app”, which is being developed.
Hughes said he also wants family mediation to be more inclusive of children, and has announced £500,000-£1m funds for DNA tests to determine a child’s parentage, from September, a move backed by the Bar Council.
In further family law news, Resolution has called for the introduction of no-fault divorce as part of an overhaul of divorce and separation law, in its Manifesto for Family Law.
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