A Kentucky-based program connects child protection services and recovery specialists with families to ensure child safety and access to treatment for parents with substance use disorders
Using a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach, Kentucky's Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) program aims at improving child welfare, accelerating access to addiction treatment by parents with substance use disorder, and reducing out-of-home child placement. Target families are those with substance-using parents involved with the state's child welfare system.
Teams comprise specialists in child protective services and family mentors (peers in recovery). With intensive case management and a family-centered orientation, teams help parents improve their child care skills and work with substance use treatment programs to facilitate quick entry into treatment, if necessary. START is modeled on a program first developed in Cleveland, and from 2006 to 2018 it served over 1,000 families and over 2,200 children in five densely populated Kentucky counties.
A research study found that compared to those in non-participating families, children in participating families were half as likely to be placed in out-of-home care, and if placed out-of-home more were likely to be reunited with their parents.
An overview of START can be found here and here, and an implementation guide, including program objectives and principles, is available here.
Children participating in the START program were less likely to be placed in out-of-home care, and when placed in out-of-home care were more likely to be reunified with their parents.