Factors contributing to enrollment in a family treatment court

The literature has shown that standard drug courts have had some success in reducing recidivism. As a result of drug court success, there has been an extension of therapeutic courts into other areas, including family courts. Characteristics that identify those who are likely to refuse entering a Family Treatment Court (FTC) can provide insight into how refusal rates may be decreased.

This study evaluated FTC enrollment to identify predictors that may aid in the development of interventions to decrease refusal rates.

A total of 229 referrals to the FTC were included in this study. Comparisons were made across a number of factors between those who chose to enroll in the FTC and those who did not. Binary logistic regression modeled the effect of independent variables on the probability of enrollment.

There were high rates of mental health problems, with high rates of trauma exposure in the sample, consisting mostly of females. Race, government assistance, severity of substance use problems, motivation to change substance use behavior, and parent-child interactions were significant predictors of enrollment.

The results for the study point out the need for possible specialized treatments and a need to consider how motivational elements may be addressed during the intake assessment to aid in decreasing refusal rates. Additionally, the results point toward a need for consideration of family system approaches when working with FTC participants as well as the need for further work with motivational elements and drug court participants.