Success Stories
Family Recovery Program: The Maryland Opportunity Compact
By implementing a Baltimore family drug treatment court, Maryland increased reunification of families with parental substance abuse and reduced by half the length of stay for children in foster care. In two years, this research-informed strategy reunified 52 percent of children served and saved the state more than $3 million.
How the Family Recovery Program Works
The Family Recovery Program, is a family drug treatment court designed to get addicted parents into treatment and to provide intensive supports. The program focuses on reunifying substance-abusing parents with children under the age of six, who have been placed in foster care.
Eligible parents either voluntarily enroll in the program, or the court orders their participation. Parents receive intensive case management, and they participate in drug treatment, family group conferencing, visitation, housing assistance, parenting classes, and other appropriate services. Teams that work with each family include a judge, drug-treatment providers, child welfare case manager, Family Recovery Program case manager, probation staff, and attorneys for the parent, child, and child welfare agency. In addition to weekly oversight by the court, these teams carefully monitor the parent’s progress. [i]
For information on the Maryland Opportunity Compact, the innovative, public-private financing strategy used to launch this program and reinvest savings.
[i]
THE FAMILY RECOVERY PROGRAM, Status Report Prepared by the Safe and Sound Campaign, April 7, 2025