Family Drug Treatment Court: Achieving recovery and reunification in the Children's Court of Victoria
Tracks
Marquis Room - In-Person Only
| Thursday, May 28, 2026 |
| 10:15 AM - 10:35 AM |
Overview
Matthew Wilson, Children's Court Of Victoria
Details
Three Key Learnings
From this presentation you will gain an understanding of: 1. The prevalence of parental AOD use in applications to the Family Division of the Children's Court of Victoria.
2. How adopting a non-adversarial, solution-focussed approach to these complex matters before the court achieves significantly greater outcomes for parents and their children than traditional mainstream court approaches.
3. How the experience of FDTC involvement is reflected upon by participants.
From this presentation you will gain an understanding of: 1. The prevalence of parental AOD use in applications to the Family Division of the Children's Court of Victoria.
2. How adopting a non-adversarial, solution-focussed approach to these complex matters before the court achieves significantly greater outcomes for parents and their children than traditional mainstream court approaches.
3. How the experience of FDTC involvement is reflected upon by participants.
Speaker
Mr Matthew Wilson
Statewide Program Manager - Family Drug Treatment Court
Children's Court Of Victoria
Family Drug Treatment Court: Achieving recovery and reunification in the Children's Court of Victoria
Abstract
The Children's Court of Victoria's Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC) is a judicially-led court based intensive case management service. The FDTC works with parents who have had their children removed from their care by Child Protection due to the harms associated with parental substance use and the complex array of co-morbidities with a view to achieving safe, sustainable family reunification.
The only court of its kind in Australia, the FDTC has recently celebrated it's 10th anniversary of it's operation. As a solution-focussed court, the FDTC achieves a greater rate of family reunification than through mainstream court processes alone, in a short period of time, and more sustainably.
This presentation will detail the prevalence of parental AOD use in applications to the Children’s Court of Victoria’s Family Division, and the significant advantages the FDTC achieves over traditional adversarial court processes through the Court’s therapeutic approach to managing the complexities of parental AOD use and addiction.
The only court of its kind in Australia, the FDTC has recently celebrated it's 10th anniversary of it's operation. As a solution-focussed court, the FDTC achieves a greater rate of family reunification than through mainstream court processes alone, in a short period of time, and more sustainably.
This presentation will detail the prevalence of parental AOD use in applications to the Children’s Court of Victoria’s Family Division, and the significant advantages the FDTC achieves over traditional adversarial court processes through the Court’s therapeutic approach to managing the complexities of parental AOD use and addiction.
Biography
Matt Wilson is the Statewide Program Manager of the Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC) in the Children's Court of Victoria. Matt Has a 30 year history of working in a range of statutory, clinical, leadership and managerial roles across the children, youth and families sector. His academic qualifications lie in Social Work; Child, Adolescent and family Mental Health; Child and Family Practice Leadership; and Addiction Science. Matt is also a 2020 Churchill Fellow, and a 2023 Policy Impact Fellow through the Winston Churchill Trust and the University of Queensland Centre for Police Futures.
