Honorable District Judge Karen Thomas
These are not “bad kids.”
They are kids who need:
• Treatment
• Community support
• Detention isn’t the
answer
reclaimingfutures.org
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Beyond Reasonable Control of Parent or School
and Habitual Truancy are included in the top
three offenses that are charged against youth
each year.
Nine truancy diversion programs were put in
place over the last several years to address the
habitual truancy charges.
What’s it about?
Early intervention
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Team approach
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Referral is made when child has 3 unexcused days
School personnel, court personnel, and community
partners.
Underlying issues of truancy are addressed.
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Statewide- the total number of truancy cases
referred to the TDP was 8,296 and of those 533
youth were charged with habitual truancy (i.e. they
continued to miss school).
Campbell Co.- the total number of truancy cases
referred to the TDP was 483 and of those 48 (10 %)
had habitual truancy filed.
Habitual Truancy complaints are still going down,
attendance numbers are still going up.
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Beyond control of parent and beyond control
of school cases are multi-faceted and often
involve multiple agencies within the
community – much like truancy.
Enhanced intervention is needed in the precourt stage where case management and
multidisciplinary consultation could be fully
utilized.
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Campbell County court staff and community
stake holders have partnered with DBHDID to
integrate pieces of the Reclaiming Futures
model to improve outcomes for pre-court or
diverted youth through a policy academy
grant.
The Reclaiming Futures model unites juvenile
courts, probation, adolescent substance
abuse treatment, and the community to
reclaim youth.
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Step one: Provide a screening to youth to
direct the family to services before a
complaint is filed. (CDWs currently use the
Global Appraisal of Individual Needs – Short
Screener)
Step Two: If complaint is processed a
preliminary inquiry takes place with the CDW
and the case is presented to a Site Review
Team for consultation where treatment is
further engaged if necessary.
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Step three: aggregate data, trends, and
concerns will be communicated to a Change
Agent Team on a quarterly basis for
consideration and potential policy changes.
All of this will take place before formal court
involvement.
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Since March 7th 2012, 48 families have sought a
pre-complaint conference with the Court
Designated Worker to file a beyond control of
parent or habitual runaway complaint (no beyond
control of school in this time frame).
Of the 48 families only 8 have returned to file a
formal complaint after getting screened for mental
health and referred to services in the local
community via the pre-complaint conference.
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Four children were sent to court per the
discretion of the county attorney prior to start
of second phase of the project.
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One charge was withdrawn by the parent.
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Three were sent to the Site Review Team.
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Our Site Review Team meeting have included
representation from:
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County Attorney’s office
Department of Juvenile Justice
Department of Community Based Services
Local schools
Department of Public Advocacy
Children’s law center
Northern Kentucky Community Action
Community Mental Health
The Brighton Center
Our first change agent team meeting is scheduled
for Oct 24th, 2012, 3pm.
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Each year, more than 2 million children, youth, and
young adults formally come into contact with the
juvenile justice system
Of those children, youth, and young adults, (65–70
percent) have at least one diagnosable mental
health need, and 20–25 percent have serious
emotional issues
◦ Acknowledge and respond to youth’s
development, culture, gender, needs and
strengths differently—they are not “little adults”
◦ Youth do have strengths and are capable of
positive growth when given the appropriate
opportunities and supports—Giving up on them
is costly to society, investing in them makes
sense
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We need a model that emphasizes improved ways
to identify, serve, and treat these multi-system
youth, youth who maybe have unidentified and/or
untreated trauma, mental illness, substance abuse
or other special needs
Use of an appropriate screening and assessment
instrument can serve as a cost-effective method to
identify potential problems and place youth in
proper levels of treatment/care and maximize
resources.
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When youth receive treatment, it can be
ineffective if it is not an evidence based
treatment practice.
Most youth in the community who are
involved with juvenile justice need supports
in order to stay crime free, substance free
and engaged in community activities.
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Juvenile justice and other youth-serving agencies
often have difficulty receiving timely and reliable
information needed for determining appropriate
sanctions, supervision, and services for youth.
We need information sharing principles and
standards for multiple agency collaborations.
We need standards for multiple agency information
sharing.
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Financial mapping of the public funds that
are expended on a yearly basis to address
juvenile justice issues.
This Task Force’s findings can inform the
development of a comprehensive financial plan that
will coordinate funds in the most efficient and
effective ways to assure the provision of
coordinated services and supports.