2007 Annual Report

Open Letter

TO: The Citizens of Cuyahoga County

The Honorable Thomas Moyer
Chief Justice, The Supreme Court of Ohio

The Honorable Jimmy Dimora
The Honorable Timothy F. Hagan
The Honorable Peter Lawson Jones
Commissioners of Cuyahoga County

The Honorable Thomas Stickrath
Director, Ohio Department of Youth Services

FROM: The Honorable Joseph F. Russo, Administrative Judge
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court

Over the past year our Court, as indeed virtually every Court in the State of Ohio, experienced the burdens
of meeting our statutory obligations with a marked decline in available resources. Yet as I review the
2007 calendar year, I am heartened and energized by the remarkable service oriented achievements our jurists and staff attained despite the unfavorable fiscal outlook.

While we eagerly await the completion our new juvenile court and detention facility in 2010, case flow
management within our current detention continuum received considerable attention. Our Court successfully implemented improvements in our Home Detention Electronic Monitoring Department. Through the implementation of new technology, our Court now receives instant notification of breaches of home detention through our electronic monitoring service. With the addition of six staff and the cooperation of our local police departments, we now have around the clock coverage of home detention youth that allows us to react to violations of home detention more efficiently than ever before.

In an effort to expedite cases of detained youth, our jurists approved the addition of a new “30 day to
disposition” docket for lower level detention cases. Working collaboratively with prosecutors and public defenders, our Court has successfully completed dozens of cases of detained youth within thirty days of admission to our detention facility. This docket promotes expeditious handling of cases, effective and timely outcomes for youth, and better control of our overall detention population.

The planning for our new facility continues, and we remain on schedule for opening in the fall of 2010.
Actual construction began in 2007 with the foundation set in place, and the first portion of structural steel took shape by year’s end.

Under the leadership of Judge Kristin W. Sweeney, a Juvenile Mental Health Court began in 2007. The
efforts of local service providers, prosecutors and defense counsel along with the tireless work of our administrative staff helped make this specialty court a reality for a number of youth facing significant mental health issues. Modeled to a degree upon our highly successful drug court, we hope to more carefully and directly assist youth and families gain control of complex issues so that both individual growth and community safety are enhanced.

Judge Alison Floyd became the Model Court Judge in 2007, and under her leadership the Court implemented changes in our abuse, neglect and dependency dockets, in accordance with best practices as outlined by the Resource Guidelines promulgated by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Association. We now conduct pre-deprivation emergency removal hearings, providing parents with the highest level of procedural due process available. For situations that arise outside of normal court hours, this Court instituted a process that allows for a Magistrate to issue a telephonic removal order before a child may be removed from his home. Each year new goals for our Model Courts Initiative are discussed and adopted that seek to employ best practices in this critical docket sector.

The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court continued to partner with many agencies to improve the delivery
of services to the citizens of our county. Court staff are involved in several endeavors with the Ohio Department of Youth Services to develop standardized risk and need assessments for juveniles, address gender specific treatment and counseling needs of our female populations, and work to provide improved aftercare services to youth within the communities in which they live. Multiple community service projects are available for our probation youth, and our special Juvenile Probation Incentive Program provides donated funds to allow us to give simple, but meaningful rewards to probation youth who carry out the terms of their probation carefully and completely.

In late 2007, the Court introduced its new case management software with its traffic docket, and the remaining portions of the docket will be added in 2008. Ultimately, the Court will have a system that includes document imaging, electronic signatures of jurists, and other features that will provide enhanced record keeping and retrieval.

I am happy to introduce Judge Thomas O’Malley as our newest member of the Juvenile Court bench.
He and his staff have brought with them great enthusiasm and a cooperative spirit which have been warmly received by the entire Court.

Along with the report of our achievements, I hereby submit, in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code
Section 2151.18, the 2007 Annual Report of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court concerning the number and kinds of cases before it, their dispositions, and other data pertaining to the work of the Court.