-- For ten years, mothers have graduated to lives without drugs and with their children -- 

WHAT: Family Treatment Court Graduation and 10th Anniversary Celebration    

WHEN: Friday, June 7, 2013, 11:00am - 1:00pm 

WHERE: Moultrie Courthouse, Jurors’ Lounge (Room 3100) 500 Indiana Avenue, NW 

WHO:  Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield Judge Zoe Bush, Presiding Judge of Family Court Magistrate Judge S. Pamela Gray, Family Treatment Court judge West Huddleston, CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals- Keynote Speaker Karen Christian, 2005 Family Treatment Court graduate 

Program details: 
 

• Family Treatment Court is comprehensive substance abuse treatment program for mothers and female guardians of children who are the subject of a child neglect allegations. Those who participate stipulate to the allegations of neglect. The program can last as long as eighteen months.  
• The first three months of treatment take place in a treatment facility in which the women reside along with up to four of their children, who are either ten or younger.
• The treatment facility provides on-site services as well as community-based services, including: substance abuse education and treatment, relapse prevention, parenting classes, counseling, and childcare.
• If the participants successfully complete the residential phase, they participate in a formal graduation ceremony and proceed to the community-based aftercare phase.  It is this formal ceremony – the tenth such ceremony – that will take place Friday, June 7th.
• For more information, see www.dccourts.gov/internet/media/famtreatment/main.jsf  

NOTE:  Judges will be available for interviews.  Mothers and children may also be available for interviews, with their permission.  Cameras and recorders must be cleared in advance by calling (202)-879-1700.