This is a very serious matter. If you have the drum rear brakes, remove the rear wheels and see if they are assembled correctly. I had the drum rears on a 2000 Caravan, but it had the 4 cyl. 3 speed, so I am sure the brakes were smaller. But mine were never assembled correctly from the factory, or they came apart. When you remove the drums (you may have to turn the adjustment wheel down toward the bottom of the slot to loosen them, they can be reached by removing the rubber cup at the top and the wheel is beyond a springlike cable that holds the em. brake line) look at how they are put together. The cable that adjust the brake attaches to an arm of metal which has an ear on it that goes in a hole on the leading pad and goes up to the adjuster. If you give me your email address in a message I can send you a couple of pictures of the brakes with the wheel off, for a 4 cyl. Mine was not put together right, one wheel never adjusted and it led to a complete brake failure due to the parking brake not holding firmly enough. My wife drove off with it on and it boiled the fluid leaving us brakeless going down through the middle of Charleston WV. This brake adjusts when you put on the emergency/parking brake, so if you never use it, you never adjust your brake and it will go to the floor. Jack up, remove the wheels, take out the cotter pin and back off the nut with a pair of channel locks. This is a good time to repack the rear wheel bearings, buy a new seal for both sides if you are going to do this. When you retighten, Tighten it by hand, then use the pliers to tighten it until it is just snug, then back off slightly and retighten by hand. replace cage and cotter pin.
