Families, Substance Use Disorder, and the Courts

This is a past event

Is Compassion Consistent with Accountability?

Watch the fully captioned event recording.

Event Description

How can family law support parents and their children when a parent has a substance use disorder?

One in eight children live in a home with a parent with a substance use disorder. Most of these children are under the age of five.

This discussion examined innovations in family law contexts, such as divorce, child custody, and care and dependency cases, that promote safety and recovery while emphasizing compassion and support for parents. Topics of discussion included family drug court interventions, interventions for mothers with opioid use disorder, integrated family medical and behavioral care, and implications for policy.

Panelists

Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center
Hon. Beth A. Crawford (Ret.), First Justice, Franklin County Probate and Family Court, Massachusetts (Former)

Event Resources

Fact pattern by Hon. Beth A. Crawford (Ret.).

This event is part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.