Defining Juvenile and Family Drug Courts
For the purpose of this report, a juvenile drug court is defined as a drug court that focuses on juvenile
delinquency (e.g., criminal) matters and status offenses (e.g., truancy) that involve substance-abusing
juveniles. A family drug court is defined as a drug court that deals with cases involving parental rights,
in which an adult is the party litigant, which come before the court through either the criminal or civil
process, and which arise out of the substance abuse of a parent. These cases can include: custody
and visitation disputes; abuse, neglect, and dependency matters; petitions to terminate parental rights;
guardianship proceedings; and other loss, restriction, or limitation of parental rights.
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