The New Hampshire Judicial Branch wants families with experience in abuse and neglect cases to play a role in helping other families navigate similar cases in Family Treatment Court. The specialized court is for parents with abuse and neglect cases who have substance use disorder.
The program brings together state child protection workers, child advocates, treatment providers, and lawyers with a goal of providing parents and children the services they need to reunite or remain together. The New Hampshire Judicial Branch wants to add another perspective: families who’ve successfully completed Family Treatment Court.
The families’ insights would be used to improve the program, officials hope. The state Division for Children, Youth, and Families has long used alumni to shape programs, but this is the first time the Judicial Branch is trying that approach. It is collaborating with the Division for Children, Youth, and Families.
Parents who serve as family leaders will be paid a stipend with federal funds for their time, as well as child care and transportation. The request comes as the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families cut nearly $150,000 in state money from a similar peer program to meet budget cuts mandated by the Legislature last year, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
“When parents have the support and tools they need to enter treatment sooner, stay engaged in treatment longer, and resolve barriers quickly, their children spend fewer days out of home and separated from their families,” the court system said in its pitch to groups interested in overseeing the program.
The state launched its Family Treatment Court program in 2021 in the Claremont and Newport circuit courts. In 2024, it launched a similar approach to resolving abuse and neglect cases in Manchester.