Police and Crime Commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye, thanked the FDAC (Family Drug and Alcohol Court) team for their fantastic work with a thank you event.

The Family Drug and Alcohol Court programme is funded by the PCC and first launched in November 2019. It has supported parents through an intense plan to give families a greater chance of staying together.

Family Drug and Alcohol Courts require a parent with addiction to agree to a formal rehabilitation plan and to work very regularly with the Family Court Judge and the FDAC team of specialists over a 26-week period, to address their behaviour and build better relationships with both their children and themselves.

The Commissioner said, “I was delighted to have met the FDAC team to discuss how I can continue to support them moving forward.  I was blown away with the passion and enthusiasm from the team.  I want to thank Judge Patrick Perusko for his passion and enthusiasm in what has been a really challenging but successful year.”

Judge Patrick Peruško said “As we approach the end of the second year of FDAC all our partners can be well and truly proud of what we have achieved and what we are building for the future.”

“Child protection during the covid-19 pandemic has been extremely challenging but it has not prevented our FDAC from engaging fantastically well with families and achieving remarkable results.”

“Whilst it remains early days, we have managed to achieve a reunification rate of 64% of children to their parent’s which is quite remarkable. In non-FDAC proceedings the reunification rate is around 19%. What is pleasing, is the multi-disciplinary professional support for our FDAC.”

“We remain immensely grateful to all out partners who have committed to support us, the Police and Crime Commissioner who funds the vital provision of domestic abuse expertise, Children’s Services in Central Bedfordshire Council, Luton Borough and Bedford Borough Councils, Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Public Health from all three Local Authorities and the Marks Trust.”

Vicki Morris, Deputy Director of Centre for Justice Innovation, said “The Pan-Beds FDAC has been a leading example for FDACs nationally since it became operational in 2019. Pan-Beds was the first FDAC to secure funding from their Police and Crime Commissioner and this has enabled other FDACs to make similar approaches using Pan-Beds as an example of positive partnership commissioning. The funded domestic abuse specialist role is being used in a manner unique to the Pan-Beds FDAC and the Centre for Justice Innovation, the provider of national support and oversight for FDACs, is keen to involve Pan-Beds FDAC in research highlighting this best practice. Furthermore, Pan-Beds have been integral in supporting the development of a national business case that calls for a central roll-out of FDAC. The lead judge and team manager provide regular advice and support to new FDACs when they open and have been selected to host a number of important visitors on account of being a shining example of best practice. This is particularly impressive given their relatively short time in existence.”

If you would like to find out more about what the FDAC do, visit their website here  https://fdac.org.uk/