Engaging Moms Program for Mothers in Family Drug Court (Miami, Fla.)

This is a family intervention focused on mothers with substance use problems and involved in family court disputes over custody of their children. The objective is to reduce or interrupt the use of psychoactive substances and improve parenting skills.
The program applies the multidimensional family therapy approach and seeks to achieve maternal sobriety and improve the bond of care between mother and child through individual sessions and family therapy.
The intervention occurs in three phases:
1) Bonding and motivation;
2) Behavioral change; and
3) Liberation for independent living.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation revealed that the program did not produce statistically significant effects in terms of child well-being, self-reported alcohol, and other drug abuse, child physical maltreatment potential, general psychological stress, family and social functioning, psychiatric problems, or results of urine tests to monitor psychoactive substance use [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Dakof, G. A., Cohen, J. B., Henderson, C. E., Duarte, E., Boustani, M., Blackburn, A., Venzer, E. & Hawes, S. (2010). A randomized pilot study of the Engaging Moms Program for family drug court. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 38(3), 263–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2010.01.002

Information source

Crime Solutions