BEHAVIORAL HEALTH JUVENILE JUSTICE (BHJJ)
In the spring of 2006 the Court and its system partners, the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health
Board, the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Cuyahoga County and the Family and Children First Council, were awarded a grant by the State of Ohio to provide intensive services to female offenders with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse diagnoses. During 2007, the Placement Aftercare Unit of the Probation Department identified and supervised over forty (40) females with co-occurring disorders. The services provided to this historically underserved population were: Wraparound Case Management, Multi- Systemic Therapy, Gender-Specific Day Report, In-Home Integrated Co-occurring Treatment, Intensive Outpatient Treatment, Short-Term Inpatient Treatment and Residential Treatment. Court Placement Aftercare Coordinators also provided an intensive level of Court supervision for these offenders. Of the over 40 youth served in this program, none were committed to Ohio Department of Youth Services.
COMMUNITY SERVICE/RESTITUTION/EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s Community Service Program was developed in 1986, to provide the Court with a positive dispositional alternative as an intermediate sanction giving juveniles an opportunity to make amends for harm done to the victim and the community. The program encourages juveniles to take responsibility for their actions, and can be used as a court-ordered dispositional alternative. In addition, the program provides youth with an opportunity to pay restitution to victims and obtain employment through a special Department of Justice grant.
In the area of community service, there were 2,210 youth in 2007, who participated in various community service activities conducted in 225 service sites throughout the County. The sites include nursing homes, churches, museums, YMCA’s hunger centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, libraries, county and municipal agencies, as well as recreation centers and parks. Community service activities have included gardening, painting, litter collection, greeting the public at special events, and interacting (reading and assisting with crafts) with senior citizens at nursing homes.
On Saturdays, at least 25 to 30 youth participate in community service activities, with 6 staff members to supervise them. Among the youth, there is an average of 35 hours of community service assigned, with a range of 10 to 200 hours. In 2007, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court probationers completed 50,201 community service hours. The successful completion rate is 86.4%.
During the summer, there is a mandatory one-day community service assignment for all probation youth. In 2007, there were 71 additional youth participating in this activity in addition to those youth having courtordered community service, of which nearly 90% successfully completed their assignments.
The Program continues to use additional sanctions that can be given by the probation officer, if the youth is suspended from school, requiring youth to perform community service in the morning and reporting to the Day Report Center in the afternoon. For example, a youth that has not been suspended for more than four days from school can be required by his probation officer to perform community service during the suspension. In 2007, there were 228 youth referred to the suspension program.
Besides the community service activities at the various sites on Saturday and throughout the year during the weekday evenings, there are discussions on victim awareness, hygiene, and substance abuse prevention. There is also a gardening program, where youth provide service around the county to various community gardens and donate the produce to hunger centers.
In 2007, the Youth Employment Program was again funded by the U. S. Department of Labor, and continued to focus on job training and employment opportunities. The program’s Employment Liaisons screened and selected juvenile probationers interested in employment. Once those probationers were identified, they were referred to the County’s Department of Justice Affairs who coordinated the employment assessment training and referral services. Those probationers not enrolled in school were also offered GED studies. The minimum requirements are that the probationer is at least 16 years of age and is able to read at the 5th grade level. The Juvenile Court Liaisons maintain contact with both Justice Affairs and the probationers for the purpose of monitoring attendance, problem solving, and sharing the youth’s progress with the probation officers. The Probation Department has been supportive, referring nearly 800 probationers since the programs 1986 inception. In 2007, there were 194 referrals .
Youth can also be ordered to participate in community service to make restitution of up to $400 to victims. These youth are still responsible for any remaining debts resulting from their victimization.
COURT COORDINATION PROGRAM
In the fall of 2006, the Court received a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for Court Coordination. The Court Coordination Program applies the authority of the juvenile court to facilitate the coordination of services for youth who require the attention of several agencies. Although this was something the Court was already actively involved in through the County Service Coordination Team, the grant has allowed us to expand capacity by adding a second Probation System Navigator. The Court’s two Probation System Navigators help multi-system involved families negotiate, simplify and unify case plans from the Court and other agencies that can at times be at odds with one another.
COURT UNRULY PROGRAM
The Court Unruly Program involves use of service providers to provide an in-home assessment and individualized service plan and case management services for all youth whose unruly cases have been diverted from formal Court action by the Court Intake Officers.
The Court has learned that the following objectives are essential to any successful youth unruly diversion program:
- Be family-centered; driven by the needs of the youth and their families, and built on the strengths of the family.
- Empower parents to take responsibility for the needs of their families and support and enhance the parent-youth relationship, while recognizing that youth in this program are best served through diversion from formal Court processing.
- Be comprehensive and holistic, using a wraparound approach to meet the youth and family’s most critical needs, and developing a continuum of resources.
- Strengthen the ability of the participating youth and their families to help themselves.
- Be available and accessible to the youth and families, using a variety of private, community and personal resources to create the best use of services.
The Court Unruly Program is divided into three components. The first includes the in-home asses ment, Individualized Service Plan (ISP) and vendor recommendation of level of case management service. The second component includes case management services for all low risk/low need youth and families, as determined by their assessment and ISP. The third includes case management services for all high risk/high need youth and families, as determined by their assessment and ISP.
DAY REPORTING PROGRAM
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s Day Reporting Center started in 1995. The Court’s Day Reporting Center is an intermediate sanction tool used for adjudicated probation youth who have been identified as being at risk of violating probation or have violated probation rules and conditions. Unlike community correction centers, day report centers are non-residential for selected probation youth who are required to report to the centers but return to their homes to sleep at night. The intent is to provide an intermediate community based sanction because it is felt that the youth could benefit from supervision, structure, and monitoring but not necessarily institutionalization.
There is extreme diversity in day reporting centers in terms of the type of offenders, types of services, number of clients served at a center and length of time at the center. The program capacity at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Day Reporting Center is 25 to 30 youth. The service area for the center is county wide. Typically while at the center, both boys and girls are required to participate in services (counseling, tutoring, employment search, etc…) or activities (drug testing, field trips, meetings with probation officers, etc…) provided by the center and community agencies.
The Day Reporting Center is located at the Metzenbaum Building located at 3343 Community College Avenue. The Day Reporting Center operates 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Transportation is provided via the Regional Transit Authority and/or the centers vans in the evening when youth are taken home.
FEMALE OFFENDER INITIATIVE
The Female Offender Initiative has continued since its inception in 2005, through a Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) grant from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services’ Department of Employment and Family Services. This resulted from the recognition that 20-25% of the youth on probation have been female offenders. As the initiative began, all staff received training from a national consultant with additional specialized training for the probation managers.
The continuum of services provided to the female probationers includes an initial assessment using the Global Risk Assessment Device (GRAD) developed by Ohio State University, identifying several domains of risk and need. The GRAD is completed by a Gender-Specific Specialist, who shares recommendations with the Probation Officer, and will provide additional consultation when deemed necessary. The GRAD has 11 domains (i.e., prior offenses, family/parenting, education/vocation, peers/significant relationships, substance use/abuse, leisure, personality/behavior, sociability, trauma, accountability, health) identifying various areas of risk and needs. Preliminary results indicated that 91% of the girls post-tested showed an improvement in one or more domains. The Specialist completes a pre/post GRAD, and is available to Probation Officers for consultation.
Female offenders are also required to attend workshops conducted by several providers at the various probation satellite offices located throughout the county. The workshop sessions have been expanded to include subject matter content such as anatomy, sex abuse, bullying, building healthy relationships with peers and adults, problem solving, anger management, stress management, and career awareness.
Since the project’s inception, there were 515 Global Risk Assessment Devices completed with 709 girls having attended workshops located within the various field offices.
Often, it is recognized that some girls may require more attention based on having a dual diagnosis (mental health and substance abuse) resulting in referrals to the Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice Project (BHJJ), and/ or mental health needs requiring a referral elsewhere.
MULTI-SYSTEMIC THERAPY PROGRAM
Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) was developed in the late 1970’s to address several limitations of existing mental health services for juvenile offenders. These limitations include minimal effectiveness, low accountability of service providers for outcomes and high cost. MST is one treatment model that has welldocumented capacity to address the various difficulties in providing effective services for juvenile offenders. MST is one of the leading evidence based practices for youth with violent, anti-social behaviors who are at risk for out of home placement.
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Courts Multi-Systemic Therapy Program has been in operation for over nine years. The program employs eight therapists and one manager. The Program serves over 100 youth and families per year.
MST is a unique, goal oriented, comprehensive program designed to serve multi-problem youth in their community. MST utilizes a home based model whereby therapists provide intensive services within the family’s home, school and community. Therapists are available 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The average length of treatment is between 2-5 months and is intensive, often involving multiple contacts with families and other participants several hours per week. Each MST team has a supervisor and a expert consultant who consults weekly on all cases. MST is most effective in helping youth with chronic, violent delinquent behavior and youth with serious emotional problems including truancy, academic problems, aggressive behaviors, criminal behaviors, drug and alcohol use and negative peer involvement.
PLACEMENT AFTERCARE
Residential Placement is out-of-home therapeutic placement for youth needing the most intensive level of services. All the facilities used by the Court are licensed by the State of Ohio and are staff secure, providing intensive counseling and supervision 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Youth placed in residential treatment are typically youngsters who have not adjusted well to community-based services.
Removing a youth from his/her home is always a difficult decision. The Court’s goal is to work with youth and their families in the least restrictive environment and to only place a youth out of the home after community-based resources have been exhausted.
Services in placement include but are not limited to: Individual, group, sex offender, chemical dependency and family counseling, anger management, mental health care, psychological and psychiatric evaluations and monitoring, medication evaluation and monitoring, educational services including special education services, GED preparation and vocational education.
Upon discharge, the youth and family are provided with Court Aftercare supervision. Aftercare supervision is an intensive level that gradually gives the youth more freedom and responsibility. Aftercare planning starts even before the youth is placed. During the early part of Aftercare, the youth and family have weekly contact with a Court Placement/Aftercare Coordinator and are also involved with other specialized counseling. By the end of Aftercare, the contact with the Court and system representatives is monthly and the family and youth have built community supports and resources outside of the system. The goal is that these new supports and resources will prevent further system involvement in the future.
SCHOOL BASED PROBATION
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Courts school based probation program began in 2004. The program was developed as a partnership designed to: a) increase communication between schools and law enforcement; b) increase coordination among family, school, probation department and appropriate community agencies; c) provide schools with alternatives for managing students exhibiting behavioral problems.
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s Probation Department has staff on site at the following Cleveland Municipal School District locations, John Marshall, Glenville, East and Martin Luther King Jr. High Schools. The probation department staff assigned to the above sites are referred to as School Based Liaisons.
The School Based Liaisons provide immediate intervention to students under court jurisdiction, by coordinating services amongst school, law enforcement, the students’ community and family. In conjunction with school personnel, and seeks to improve academic and/or behavior performance of supervised youth, the School Based Liaison promotes a drug free, safe environment.
The goal of the school based probation is to help probation youth function successfully in the school environment and reduce or eliminate their delinquent behavior.
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND GRANTS MANAGEMENT
Although an integral part of the Probation Department, the Strategic Planning and Grants Management unit works with all departments of the Court, managing program planning, grants, contracts and invoicing at the Court. As Court personnel look to bring new best-practice programming to youth, or to enhance current programs, Grants Management staff develop the grant documents and programming, and then oversee all the grant data and reporting requirements. In addition, when the Court is looking for community-based service providers, the Grants Management unit pulls together key Court personnel to manage the Request for Proposal process.
In addition, Grants Management monitor programs to ensure contract compliance and program fidelity, working closely with service providers to ensure program referrals, service delivery and invoicing is smooth and efficient. Monitoring programs also involves data collection and analysis of program usage and program effectiveness; which is key when considering continuation of youth programs.
Lastly, the Grants Management staff oversee the Court Unruly Program and the Ohio Department of Youth Services Population Management program. Both programs work to maximize Court resources in order to minimize Court involvement for youth diverted from formal Court action or, respectively, sentenced to the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
CUYAHOGA TAPESTRY SYSTEM OF CARE
Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care (CTSOC) began with a grant application to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for the development of “Project Tapestry”, written and submitted by the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board and the Family & Children First Council on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners in the spring of 2003. In April 2007, Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care expanded and began accepting two specific Juvenile Court populations: Youth charged with domestic violence in Detention Center or Shelter Care and youth identified by a jurist as being at imminent risk of removal from the home. CTSOC provides “High Fidelity” Wraparound to this select group of court-involved youth and their families. The goal of a System of Care “Child and Family Team” is to work together in the family’s neighborhood, building supports and addressing needs using a strength based approach. To date over 200 youth and families have been enrolled in Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care.
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