Brooke County
SCHOOL BASED PROBATION OFFICER
Pre- Trial Diversion Meeting
An initial assessment is done during or after the Pre-Trial Diversion Meeting.
During the diversion meeting the SBPO will obtain all of the general
information such as any medications or diagnoses the juvenile is on and
family background information. All school information is obtained such as:
grades, attendance, and discipline reports. The SBPO meets with the juvenile
the same or following week without the family around to obtain information in
further detail. It is during these meetings in which the juveniles have disclosed
the most information.
Referrals
•
All are referred to the DHHR YSS for services.
•
Referral to Home Base for their truancy program to receive services.
•
Referral to Juvenile Mediation for the following: individual counseling,
psychological evaluation, anger management, etc.
•
If there are safety issues and/ or concerns a CPS referral is made.
Obtaining School Referrals
In Brooke County the School Based Probation Officer covers all of the schools.
Either the Principals or the Counselors fill out a referral for services of truant
youth and then then a diversion meeting is scheduled either by the school
and/or the School Based Probation Officer.
On some occasions the School Based Probation Officer will sit in on CA2
meetings and inform the families what the next step will be if the juvenile
continues to miss school.
Diversion Outcomes
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
All of the elementary children on
the diversion have been
successful. The goal was to
address the parenting and home
issues by loading the families with
services to assist any areas of
need.
All of the middle school children
have overall been successful with
some minor issues of compliance
with the parents and trouble at
school.
One juvenile dropped out of school.
The biggest issues faced with this
age group is the parents and
several CPS referrals have been
made for various reasons ranging
from a filthy home to the parents
abusing drugs.
One juvenile is currently in the court
process for failing the diversion.
There are very few children in this
category on the diversion.
One juvenile was expelled from
school and will be attending the
Youth Reporting Center for his
education. A modified diversion will
be set in place.
A few students have received OSS
and ISS.
Overall, majority of the students are
doing well with the exception of a
few.
Supervision Levels
Home Base services are provided to the more severe truancy cases and/or the homes in
which the Truancy Task Force Team has determined there are legitimate concerns about the
family. The Home Base worker is in the home several times a week supervising, observing, and
providing services.
SBPO will meet with the juveniles anywhere from a weekly- monthly basis depending upon
their specific needs. The juveniles who get into trouble at school have heavy supervision,
sometimes multiple times a week.
SBPO is called to the school anytime a juvenile gets suspended. SBPO also gets called to the
school upon the juvenile’s request. SBPO and DHHR Worker conduct home visits on a weekly
basis. If a juvenile refuses to go to school then SBPO and the PRO go to the home and escort
the student to school.
Truancy Task Force Meeting
Members include: School Based Probation Officer, Attendance Director, Public
Resource Officer, Juvenile Mediation workers, DHHR YSS Brooke County Workers and
Supervisor, Brooke County Juvenile Probation Officer, CPS Supervisor, and Home Base
workers.
Meetings are held on a monthly basis and all of the diversion cases are reviewed. At
this meeting we discuss whether services need to continue for each family and if any
additional services need to be added.
This meeting also gives us all the opportunity to address any communication issues
between service providers and make changes to our system that we have set in place
if needed.
SBPO AND DHHR WORKER WORK
CLOSELY TOGETHER TO ADDRESS
TRUANCY ISSUES.
Collaborative
THE DHHR WORKER ATTENDS THE
MAJORITY OF DIVERSION MEETINGS
WITH SBPO.
SBPO AND DHHR WORKER
CONDUCT HOME AND SCHOOL VISITS
TOGETHER MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK.
Results
In Brooke County our program has only been in place for about two months
so we are just in the beginning stages. As time goes on modifications are
made on a regular basis to better the program.