Family-Centered Services in Tennessee Adult Recovery Courts

The purpose of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) FY18 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (34 U.S.C. § 10611, et seq.) is to provide financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to implement and enhance drug courts and veterans treatment courts that effectively integrate evidence-based substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over substance abusing offenders. BJA allows award recipients to implement or enhance the most appropriate drug court model in order to accommodate the needs and available resources of their jurisdictions, so long as the model conforms to the 10 key components key components and the evidence-based program principles in the nationally-recognized drug court standards. To the extent that substance abuse treatment and related services are funded by an award, the drug court project must include treatment and services to address opioid abuse reduction.

The grant recipient will use the grant funds to improve, enhance, or expand drug court services statewide by encouraging adherence to evidence-based program principles and through activities such as: training and/or technical assistance programs for drug court teams geared to improve drug court functioning and to increase drug court participation and participant outcomes; tracking, compiling, coordinating, and disseminating state drug court information and resources; increasing communication, coordination, and information sharing among drug court programs; conducting a statewide drug court evaluation; and/or establishing a statewide automated drug court data collection and/or performance management system.

In addition, the grant recipient will use grant funds at the state level to support drug courts in local or regional jurisdictions that do not currently operate with BJA Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program funding. Funds will be used to implement a statewide, data-driven strategy for reaching and expanding capacity of drug court options and services for nonviolent but high risk/high need offenders, which may include implementing new drug courts or scaling up existing drug courts to better meet the actual number of high risk/high need individuals who are eligible and ready to participate in a drug court program.

CA/NCF