Helping parents make a change for the better

Since March 2013 I have been running the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) in Gloucestershire, the first outside London.

Gloucestershire’s Turn Around for Children Service (TACS) was set up in collaboration with Gloucestershire NHS Trust.
Not only does it have dedicated social workers and specialist substance misuse nurses, but also health visitors, mental health nurses, speech and language therapists, a substance misuse consultant psychiatrist and a psychologist.

Assessment and review

A comprehensive assessment is undertaken as to whether the parents should come into FDAC. I am not obliged to follow their recommendation and do not always do so. I explain, to adopt Nick Crichton’s words, that “this will be the best opportunity [they] will ever have of turning their lives around”. A good cop-bad cop approach is required. They are told that everyone in the room wants them to succeed, but that I shall have no hesitation in doing what is best for the children if they fail. The role of the judge is fascinating. You cannot be stiff, but it is essential that one’s authority is maintained.

Provision is made in the directions for an interim assessment of progress after
six weeks and a substantive assessment after three months. Following each of those assessments, a review is held with the lawyers attending.
If parents do not fully
engage, proceedings are generally concluded close
to the 26 weeks mark.

If, however, they do well,
it will inevitably take longer.
The parents do, of course, need to be able to demonstrate they can remain abstinent for a period
of time. Going beyond the 26 weeks is supported by the president, who has given the FDAC approach his very firm endorsement (In the matter of
S (A Child) [2014] EWCC B44(Fam)).

Finding their voices

The unique feature of the FDAC is that parents meet with the judge for a non-lawyer review every two weeks. The TACS social worker also attends. As you might imagine, the lawyers are initially rather concerned about their clients seeing me in their absence. What might they say which might jeopardise their prospects? However, they quickly realise they need have no such fears. Initially nervous about seeing me, parents grow in confidence, find their voices and feel more in control of their own situation. Often for the first time in their lives, the parents feel someone actually cares about them and they respond accordingly. As the London FDAC research has demonstrated, parents do not want to let the judge down and they find these meetings to be a crucial part of their journey towards abstinence.

And, because they are very well aware of the chance they have been given and the special relationship they develop with the judge, even if they fail, they accept their failure. Since the Gloucestershire FDAC started, no final hearings have been listed.

A successful case ends with a ‘graduation’ following the issues resolution hearing, which concludes with a 12-month supervision order. The lawyers remain, members of the parents’ family come in and, best of all,
I get to meet the children.
Both the parents and the children receive a graduation certificate. And, because I have got to know the parents so well and want to know how they have been getting on under the supervision order, I have also introduced an informal review halfway through the supervision order, or sometimes, if circumstances dictate, somewhat earlier.

So far, five families involving seven children have graduated. It is very clear that none would have done so without the brilliant FDAC model.

District Judge Julie Exton sits at the Bristol Civil and Family Court and is president of the Association of Her Majesty's District Judges