Maine's court system has won a federal grant of nearly half a million dollars to boost the state's so-called Family Drug Court Program.  That's according to Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who say the Maine Judicial Branch Administrative Office of the Court has been awarded a grant in the amount of $480,904 dollars from the U.S. Department of Justice for the program. 

The drug courts focus on substance abuse problems that surface when adults enter the court system because of child abuse and neglect issues, the two say.  The approach is a collaborative effort that includes judges, state prosecutors, law enforcement representatives, treatment providers and others.

Maine's Adult Drug Court has served 918 participants with a recidivism rate that is far lower than that for traditionally treated offenders, according to Snowe and Collins.  The state's drug courts have successfully graduated 39 parents, reunited 42 children with their families and seen 20 babies born to drug free mothers enrolled in the program, the two say.