The Justice Initiative for Drug Endangered Families (JI-DEF) launched a new web site today located at www.jidef.org.
This highly aggressive initiative recognizes that all systems play an overlapping role in supporting children and families while keeping the community safe. JI-DEF is a collaboration between government and nonprofit entities working together to support prevention, early intervention, substance recovery and offender accountability.
The new web site highlights the program components and details the roles of the program partners including The Kempe Center Judicial ASPIRE Program, law enforcement advocates, probation and court systems, and TASC. Over a three-year period, JI-DEF identified 400 drug endangered children who experienced significant trauma as a result of parental substance abuse, but were never previously identified or qualified for services.
Through prevention, substance abuse services, and cooperative case management models, JI-DEF retained over 70 percent of all project participants. Additionally, the initiative significantly decreased criminal recidivism, incarceration rates and out-of-home placement among children.
