For this Expert Voices blog, Natalie Queiroz MBE, Victims Advocate for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, shares her reflections on Coventry and Warwickshire FDAC.
In October 2025, Coventry and Warwickshire Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) celebrated its 10 Year anniversary. I was honoured to be invited to speak at the celebration event in my capacity as Victims Advocate for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), a post I took up at the start of April that year.
Since 2022, the West Midlands PCC has funded a specialist domestic abuse social worker for this FDAC team, hence I was delighted to be invited to contribute at the event and properly meet the team.
In preparation for the celebration event, I spent time reading up about the Court’s purpose in more detail, along with the complexity of issues it was dealing with.
A number of key points really stood out for me:
- Its problem-solving approach – working with families struggling with drug and alcohol use issues to find solutions to overcome the root causes.
- The wider focus on other contributing factors such as mental health and domestic abuse and the plans to tackle those issues. As we know, alcohol and drug use can often result from unhealthy coping mechanisms adopted by people to get through tough mental health periods in life and/or domestic abuse circumstances. To not treat these underlying driving factors for some, would potentially set them up to fail longer term.
- The multi-disciplinary approach taken, with a comprehensive team including social workers, domestic abuse specialists, substance use specialists, child and adult psychologists, parent mentors and of course dedicated judges. Multiple expertise to support different parts of people’s recovery, all working together with a clear plan in place!
It is estimated that about 96% of cases coming into FDAC have domestic abuse as a significant factor. West Midlands PCC’s Police and Crime Plan has clear commitments around tackling and halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), creating safer communities, supporting victims of crime, preventing future crime and rehabilitating perpetrators. Hence, West Midlands PCC’s commitment these last 4 years to provide a dedicated specialist domestic abuse social worker to the Coventry and Warwickshire FDAC team. The role of that specialist social worker is focused on a ‘whole family’ approach to domestic abuse, including:
- Planning interventions for parents
- Delivering educational group sessions about domestic abuse, including understanding the impact of domestic abuse, especially on children
- Providing specialist 1:1 support for women, including support with securing refuge when needed
- Ensuring awareness of appropriate legislation, such as Claire's Law
- Assisting with women's safety planning to keep them and their children safe
- Working with male domestic abuse perpetrators through change programmes.
This whole family approach is vital, as is the close working across the wider multi-disciplinary team to best support families. It is such positive and life changing work. I’ve witnessed time and time again in my work over the years, the huge impact of that support not being there and families not being able to function, and children unable to have contact with their parents in a safe and healthy way, which is why I fully support the FDAC’s forward-facing way of working.
Over the last 7 years (before and then part-time alongside my role in the PCC), I have run a social enterprise focused on empowering vulnerable young people and tackling the root causes of youth violence and exploitation. I have worked with young people struggling in school, young people who’ve been on the cusp of exploitation and even with young people incarcerated with long sentences ahead of them as they’ve been caught up in a gang or in ‘friendships’ or ‘relationships’ which have caused them harm. In so many of these children’s cases, poor mental health of parents and/or drug or alcohol issues was a repeating feature in their backgrounds. Children who’ve then ended up in the care system as their families have broken down due to these issues, alongside horrendous stories of domestic abuse. I have seen the damage firsthand that this had caused to a young person, the vulnerability it left them with as they struggle with belonging and low self-worth, and the continual ‘survival’ mode they have had to adopt just to get by. It has broken my heart many times over. I have at times felt angered for those incarcerated, that no one had ‘caught’ them earlier in the system, supported their families and helped change their path.
I know why so many children end up in care. Safety of the child is absolutely paramount and can never be compromised. But a system that can help prevent that route and give a family and parents hope of a positive change, can have such a life-changing effect on that child, and the ripple effect beyond it is huge.
As a mother of 3 (and having been a single mum twice), I know that being a parent can be really tough at times. For me, being a Mom is my absolute driving force in life and my children are 100% my complete world, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. If you then throw in to the mix the other life challenges the FDAC parents are experiencing, then that journey can seem crippling and overwhelming. This is why the empathetic, understanding and supportive approach to help parents tackle the root causes of the issues they’re experiencing is so critical.
Parents come away empowered that they can manage this important role in life; and children have that chance of a safe environment living or being in close contact with a parent, which in turn can drastically change the trajectory of their own lives and self-perception.
Whilst I was at the event, I met several parent ‘graduates’ who had successfully completed the ‘Trial for Change’ programme and were now living positive lives with their children as a result. To hear their stories and how issues related to alcohol, drugs, mental health or domestic abuse, had previously derailed their ability to be a safe parent was heartbreaking. But then to hear how their ‘Trial for Change’ helped bring them back on track, was uplifting, joyful and humbling. I was really struck by how these parents talked about the FDAC team. Their gratitude to the team, their respect for how they felt they were treated and the acknowledgement that the team themselves, as much as the programme, had made that crucial difference to them. It is not often you will hear someone who has been through the family court system speak so highly of the judge and their patience, understanding and guidance, and ultimately the positive difference they made to them!
I had the pleasure at that celebration event to meet a number of the team, including the social workers, the adult psychologist and the judges. It was clear how dedicated every single team member was to their role, their mission and the critical part they play in the journey of the families they support. The pride that shone from them all as they listened to the graduates speak was palpable.
I’ve recently followed up from that celebration event with a visit to the FDAC at Coventry Combined Court to meet up with manager Jane Dunne and her FDAC team. I watched initial FDAC proceedings, I observed review hearings with people enrolled on the programme and sat in on the judge-led non-lawyer reviews. I heard about the progress people were making in their challenging journeys. I listened to team members’ discussions about the people in the programme, each one of them really caring about giving that person every chance to make that change and create that safe environment and better life for their child. It was truly fantastic to witness first hand.
As the well-known old African proverb goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. FDAC is creating that village and I am forever grateful for such services existing and the people within them creating lasting positive change for so many.