Committee approves bill to let juvenile courts adopt voluntary family treatment specialty courts

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 1144, a bill to establish voluntary family treatment specialty courts in the juvenile division that provide intensive supervision, coordinated services, and a dedicated treatment coordinator to follow up on referrals.

Senator Stubblefield asked Kristen Clark of the Administrative Office of the Courts to present the bill. Clark said the bill grew from the Specialty Court Program Advisory Committee and would create a family treatment specialty court track that supplements dependency-neglect proceedings with additional services and intensive supervision for families who opt in. "This is a bill to propose a family treatment specialty court that is established actually in the juvenile division of circuit court," Clark said.

Clark told the committee the program is voluntary and currently piloted in Jefferson, Lawrence and Benton counties. Funding typically begins with grant dollars that pay for a specialty court coordinator and some supplemental services; local entities decide whether to continue funding after the grant period ends. She said the specialty court model includes the child's DHS caseworker as a team member but adds a treatment coordinator who "does not have that same caseload as the DCFS worker" and can follow up to ensure services are actually received.

On due process and participation, Clark said attorneys for parents (including parents from whom custody has been removed) are included as members of the specialty court team and that certain topics, such as custody and visitation changes, must be decided in formal hearings rather than informal staffings to preserve due process.

Clark acknowledged the specialty courts are new and data are limited, but said the courts collect information in the SCALES application and that annual reporting and statutory data-collection requirements exist to provide information to the General Assembly upon request.

Senators who spoke in support praised the measure as a family-preserving approach. Senator Stubblefield summarized the bill's aim: "The ultimate goal of this bill is to keep families together, and that's the best thing for society." The chair called for a 'due pass' motion; Senator Tucker moved, Senator Gilmore seconded, and the committee passed the bill by voice vote.

The committee-recorded action was a committee-level passage; the transcript does not show a roll-call tally or subsequent scheduling on the Senate floor.