Antezzo, Mia. – 2021
To reduce substance use as a key cause of children removed from their homes, Maryland implemented a Family Recovery Court program in 2004 that connects parents to intensive treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) and provides case management and incentives. Over a one-year period, program evaluations show the program produced a 25 percent higher reunification rate, reduced days that children spend in non-kinship foster care (252 vs. 346), and produced more than $1 million in savings for the state’s child protective system due to reduced foster care utilization. (Author abstract)