Birmingham and Solihull

Birmingham and Solihull FDAC launched in February 2021, this is a joint initiative between the two authorities Birmingham Children’s Trust and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.  

Birmingham and Solihull FDAC have a range of specialists within the team consisting of social workers, family support workers, a domestic abuse specialist, mental health specialist, substance use specialist, a psychologist, two psychiatrists, parent mentors and children / young people peer mentors. 

Birmingham and Solihull FDAC operates from Birmingham family courts and also has an independent base where the interventions are made possible. 

For more information about Birmingham and Solihull FDAC, contact the FDAC Team Manager: Helen Davies by email Helen.Davies@Bham-SolFDAC.co.uk or by phone 07860906073. 

Coventry and Warwickshire

Coventry FDAC opened in October 2015. The FDAC team developed out of an existing local authority court-based assessment service and was established with match-funding from the Department for Education in its first year of practice. Since this time core funded by Coventry City Council.
In 2018 the team won the Public Sector Children’s Team Award at the 2018 Children & Young People Now Awards.

Coventry’s partnership with Warwickshire as its neighbouring authority launched a combined service across two authorities in October 2021, expanding the service to offer parity for families across the region. The specialist team is based in Coventry and includes social workers, substance use specialists, a parenting officer, children and family’s worker as well as a clinical lead.

For more information about Coventry FDAC, contact the FDAC Team Manager: Jane Dunne by email Jane.Dunne@coventry.gov.uk or phone
02476785575. Alternatively email
CoventryandwarwickshireFDAC@coventry.gov.uk

East Sussex

East Sussex FDAC opened in April 2015. It has grown out of the existing multi-disciplinary SWIFT service, commissioned jointly by Children’s Social Care and the local NHS Foundation Trust. 

East Sussex has been particularly interested in using the FDAC approach to address mental health and domestic violence issues affecting substance using parents. The court operates out of Hastings and Brighton Court, and the team is based in Eastbourne. 

For more information about East Sussex FDAC, contact SWIFT via this email:  swiftforfdac@eastsussex.gov.uk 

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire FDAC launched in March 2013. The team sits within the local authority Children & Young People Service and operates out of one court in Gloucester.

Gloucestershire FDAC has a key difference to the evaluated FDAC model as the FDAC social worker is also the local authority social worker. The model also includes an established 1-year post-proceedings service, known as the Gloucestershire Supervision Order Care Pathway, which has been evaluated as part of the Supporting Families, Investing in Practice funding programme.

For more information about Gloucestershire FDAC, contact the FDAC Team Manager: Jane Marriott by email jane.marriott@gloucestershire.gov.uk or phone 01452 328354.

Greater Manchester

Stockport FDAC launched in January 2021. It had originally been funded by Stockport Family, and the Department of Education’s ‘Supporting Families Programme’. It serves the Stockport Metropolitan Council and operates out of the Manchester Family Court, in the Manchester Civil Justice Centre. Stockport FDAC began to scale and spread the model to Greater Manchester Local Authorities at the end 2022.  

In April 2023 Wigan and Manchester City Council joined Stockport and in April 2024 Bolton LA also joined thus creating The Greater Manchester Family Drug and Alcohol Courts. Tameside joined in 2025 followed by Oldham in 2026.  

For more information about Greater Manchester FDAC, please contact the Service Lead by email: joanne.harris@stockport.gov.uk, or by phone: 0161 218 1149 

Leeds

Between October 2015 – March 2016 Leeds was one of five FDACs which opened in West Yorkshire part funded by the Department for Education Innovation Programme. These FDAC teams served 5 courts across the region – Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees. 

Due to funding challenges four of the local authorities were not able to continue within their local budgets despite the success of the respective teams. 

However, the Leeds FDAC continued and the service successfully completed its pilot in 2017. The specialist team is provided by the local charity Barca-Leeds, commissioned by the Local Authority.  

For more information about Leeds FDAC, contact the FDAC Team Manager: Saorsia Jefferson by email saorsia.jefferson@barca-leeds.org 

London

London FDAC, the first UK FDAC, started in 2008 as a three-year pilot, funded by central government, and is now a service commissioned by the participating local authorities from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. 

In January 2018, London FDAC expanded to provide a Pan-London service working across three London Family Courts: Central, Croydon and West London. In January 2021, this Pan-London FDAC service expanded to include some of the local authorities served by the East London Family Court.  

In total, the Pan-London FDAC serves 11 local authorities. 

The London FDAC has maintained parent mentoring as a consistent part of its model, and this was evaluated by Sussex University under the Supporting Families, Investing in Practice programme.  

Additional local authorities have demonstrated an interest in the model and there are other opportunities for local authorities to commission FDAC. 

For more information about Pan-London FDAC, contact the Team Manager, Victoria Warden on vwarden@tavi-port.nhs.uk 

Liverpool

Liverpool FDAC opened in Spring 2025.

The Liverpool FDAC team is led by Team Manager Carol Bachelor.

For further information about Liverpool FDAC, contact Carol Bachelor: carol.bachelor@liverpool.gov.uk.

Milton Keynes & Buckinghamshire

Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire FDAC opened in July 2014. It serves the two local authorities and operates out of two courts, in Milton Keynes and High Wycombe. The specialist team works from a base in Milton Keynes.

In June 2016 Milton Keynes Family Court won a HMCTs regional award for partnership working in developing their FDAC service.

For more information about Milton Keynes & Buckinghamshire FDAC, contact the Team Manager: Jenny Swift by email mkbucks@fdact.org.uk or phone 01908 253400.

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire FDAC opened in spring 2025. The service operates as a partnership between North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

The Northamptonshire FDAC team is led by Team Manager Rachael Saunders. For further information, please contact Rachael Saunders: Rachael.Sanders@nctrust.co.uk

Pan Bedfordshire

The Pan Bedfordshire FDAC launched in November 2019. It serves three local authorities and operates out of two courts, in Luton and Bedford.

The Pan Bedfordshire FDAC has secured funding from diverse sources, with significant contributions from the PCC, the ICB, a local charity and Public Health, alongside core funding from Children’s Services.

For more information about the Pan Bedfordshire FDAC, please contact the Team Manager: Beverley Sorensen by email Beverley.Sorensen@panbedsfdac.co.uk

Southampton

Southampton FDAC opened in 2015 initially as a small pilot but has now been running for 9 years as a permanent fixture within the Local Authority’s Children and Families Service. The team sit within the multi-disciplinary Intervention and Complex Assessment Services and work closely with frontline Social Care teams, therapeutic services, community substance use providers and health colleagues. 

The FDAC team have also expanded in recent years, with increased clinical lead input, more FDAC trained social workers and a substance use worker within the team. Due to the teams multi-faceted function within the Local Authority, they also support any reunification work undertaken during or post FDAC and offer a 12 month post-FDAC intervention for families. 

For more information about Southampton FDAC, contact the FDAC Team Manager Alison Street by email – Alison.Street@southampton.gov.uk 

West Yorkshire Problem Solving Court

Between October 2015 – March 2016 Bradford was one of five FDACs which opened in West Yorkshire part funded by the Department for Education Innovation Programme. These FDAC teams served 5 courts across the region – Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees.

Due to funding challenges four of the local authorities were not able to continue within their local budgets despite the success of the respective teams. Unfortunately, Bradford FDAC was not able to continue without this funding. Despite the loss of funding, Bradford Council wanted to continue to provide a similar model of care for parents and the Problem-Solving Court Team (PSCT) was created. The Problem-Solving Court Team sits in Bradford & Children Families Trust and is funded by the Trust and the Department of Education.

For more information about the Problem Solving Court Team, contact the PSCT Team Manager: Samantha Lowe – samantha.lowe@bradfordcft.org.uk

Wiltshire

Wiltshire FDAC launched in June 2022 and sits within the Local Authority’s existing Specialist Assessment, Intervention and Family Time team. It is available to families living in Wiltshire and operates from the Family Court in Swindon where it is overseen by a specially trained Judge. The FDAC team consists of experienced social workers skilled in assessment work, substance use specialists, intervention workers and a clinical lead. 

Wiltshire have worked closely with partner agencies in setting up their FDAC and as such, as well as being funded by the Local Authority, they have also secured funding from the Clinical Commissioning Group for their clinical lead and have accessed funding from Wiltshire’s Domestic Abuse strategy. 

For more information about Wiltshire FDAC, contact Harriet.rattue-spicer@wiltshire.gov.uk or sam.mcfaul@wiltshire.gov.uk