Transcript Achieving Positive Outcomes for Court

EDJJ National Conference:
Achieving Positive Outcomes
for Court-Involved Youth
Key Points from Learning Café
Peer Discussion Groups
Moderators:
Mary Quinn & Jeffrey Poirier
June 26, 2004
P1 -- Considerations and recommendations for
preventing minority representation
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Have a department of prevention rather than just a
department of corrections
All groups need to take ownership for youth
After-school mentoring programs are essential
Centralize resources for family and youth within
schools—ensure youth in all areas have access
Use the community-care model
Have more advocates that can relate to minorities and
also have political standing
Merge efforts of individual initiatives
Communicate for the child’s family in pre-court
meetings
P1 -- Considerations and recommendations for
preventing minority representation
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Provide more proactive services such as early
intervention (rather than being reactive and waiting
until many more services are required)
Provide more access to resources (e.g., spiritual,
mentoring, diversion programs)
Change the “norm” of acceptable behavior
Make better use of early intervention services by
identifying and targeting at-risk youth and families –
begin at hospitals when youth are born
Educate many groups (e.g., police officers) about what
we’re trying to do and about diversity (cultural
differences) and disabilities
Educate both students and teachers
Have a community liaison to connect community
needs/desires with programs that are available by
communicating more effectively
P2 -- Considerations and recommendations for
preventing disability overrepresentation
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Better equip teachers to work with diverse, challenging
populations – address teaching disability
Provide in-service training for various groups and
agencies
Accurate, complete early identification of youth with
mental health problems
More alternative programming and support systems
Use litigation as a tool
Appropriate services for children and families (e.g.,
transportation)
Appropriate placement and treatment
Support parents so they can advocate for their children
Collaboration between agencies – information sharing
Raise awareness of the availability of funds to support
programs
P2 -- Considerations and recommendations for
preventing disability overrepresentation
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Develop alternatives to suspension and expulsion
Education for all stakeholders (police officers, parents,
students, staff, etc.)
Examine overlap of clients in various agencies
Stop excluding students from classrooms because of
their behavior
Identify and treat the right issues (e.g., ADHD, PTSS)
P3 -- Preventing risk factors
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Shared efforts across schools and communities to
develop and implement programs – integrate services
across agencies and get education involved
Eliminate overlap and barriers since kids are involved
in multiple systems
Community-based resources and mentors – provide
organized lists for youth and their families (e.g.,
National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice)
Provide community resources and recreation programs
and educate them about the benefits – given
inspiration, people and communities can accomplish
great things
Promote higher education and voc rehab for parents
Put children first in budgets
Support families
Get policy makers to buy into prevention…no child left
behind bars
P3 -- Preventing risk factors
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User-friendly system of care
Parent and student sensitivity to differences in culture
Increase public awareness of the issues
Clients of one agency are eligible for services from all
agencies
Recognize that we are working with the same kids
Give fair and culturally competent consequences (e.g.,
school punitive and exclusionary disciplinary
consequences) for inappropriate behavior
Identify student sensitivities to race, gender, culture
Stakeholders (e.g., police, probation offices, churches)
need to ask what they can do to help
Parents become self advocates
Go outside the box – create a system of care with onestop shopping (e.g., put agencies in one building)
P4 -- Prevention efforts in public schools
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Educate v. isolate
Schools need to feel ownership of their students
Help youth identify community mentors
Improve communication – ensure behavioral
expectations are clear
Mixing of staff (e.g., probation officers in schools as
liaisons)
Emphasize literacy – remediate at time of problem
rather than waiting until the child is older
Keep youth engaged in school and make school
environments more caring
Use alternative education programs more proactively
Recognize that students will become adult members of
the community
Make evidence-based decisions rather than decisions
based on cultural perceptions
P4 -- Prevention efforts in public schools
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Use school-based probation
Implement conflict resolution programs
Increase support staff
Implement programs (e.g., after-school programs) that
will be of interest to students and provide new and
exciting activities
Give students multiple chances – don’t automatically
label them as “bad” when they return to school – end
“no tolerance” policies
Identify and be familiar with programs that can
provide needed services to students
Ensure basic needs of students are met
E1 -- Provide appropriate education services for
a diverse population
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Development of flexible curriculum relevant to
ethnicity and educational levels
Need a centralized website to share information and
have a forum for online discussion groups
Require agencies to enforce policies, procedures, and
programs specific to diversity
Individualized supports for education
Provide gender-based programming
Acknowledge students in public schools are similar to
youth in facilities in terms of abilities
Brief assessment tools
Provide credit for courses
Balanced curriculum—creativity
E1 -- Provide appropriate education services for
a diverse population
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Multicultural studies foster pride in one’s culture and
understanding others (e.g., use literature, printed
media such as Time magazine)
Foster open communication (e.g., between educators,
detention/security staff, probation staff)
Have effective assessment tools (initial testing may be
inaccurate due to emotional instability)
Find ways to replicate services provided in schools
Internet access as long as safeguards are in place
Diverse, high quality staff
Respect the certification and expertise of teachers –
don’t just put them in a slote
Develop a curriculum flexible to educational levels and
ethnicities – hire and train staff in issues of diversity
E1 -- Provide appropriate education services for
a diverse population
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Provide unique delivery of services to youth who
haven’t been in school for more than two years
Teachers should advocate for students
Paid therapists for girls
Use technology for curriculum and assessment
Look to people who are laid off but are highly qualified
professionals (e.g., engineers) and retirees
Tailor instruction to learning styles
Adequate assessment and/or compilation of data
obtained by other schools or facilities
ESL assessments, provide reading instruction, teach
study skills, teach computer/keyboarding skills, have
audio recordings of textbooks, offer virtual science labs
E2 -- Providing appropriated education and
related services
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Training of staff must be ongoing
Encourage or require teachers to have special
education endorsements
Individualized instruction
Have a district liaison and a system to obtain IEPs from
public schools
Provide additional supports for special education
students in the regular education classroom
Mental health
Ensure all teachers are aware of IEPs
Follow federal and state mandates – good programs
will never find this to be an issue, bad programs will be
confronted with these mandates
Obtain records from previous placements
E2 -- Providing appropriated education and
related services
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Have a form to request records that notes law and need
to be done quickly
Professionals that work with youth need curriculumspecific training
Engage in activities that open up closed corrections
systems to include spec education
Daily progress of students in special education
Remove ineffective employees
Statewide database with student information
Create a snapshot of each youth’s needs—initial
assessment and formative evaluation
Integrate IEPs with service and treatment plans
Obtain vaccination records from schools
Use online courses to train staff and for students
E2 -- Providing appropriated education and
related services
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Determine if student will be leaving before 10 days
prior to completing IEP
Ensure students who need IEPs have them
Ensure teachers are highly qualified – use online
courses as needed
Assess, diagnose, classify – appropriate placement is
key
Childfind must be ongoing
School principals need to have mental health team,
medical, etc. accountable to him/her to effectively
address special education needs and mandates
Training of institutional staff must be ongoing to build
understanding of kids in special education
Teachers must see students as individuals
E2 -- Providing appropriated education and
related services
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Question the identification process and focus on
student needs
Create a snapshot of youth educationally early on and
continually during confinement
Have continuous assessment
Encourage and require all teachers to have special
education endorsement
Have certified special educators
E3 -- Enhancing collaboration with public
schools
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Align with state standards and curriculum
Build an understanding among public and officials
Enact legislation to ensure documentation travels with
students
Invite public school personnel into facilities to observe
programs and issues
Establish a model or continuum of transitional services
Identify where student will transition to and provide
relevant information (e.g., IEP, transcript, credits
earned while in facilities, assessment results)
Create liaisons
Transition needs to start on day one – put supports in
place all along the process
Ongoing contact with district special education
programs
E3 -- Enhancing collaboration with public
schools
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Hire a transition coordinator
Statewide computer access to student records
Reform the dual system in juvenile justice by creating
state residential schools administered by certified
school administrators – public schools will more likely
interface with a state school than a correctional facility
Statewide database available at the practitioner level
that allows secure access to data through the internet
(e.g., juvenile staff can begin an IEP for a student and a
public school teacher can finish the IEP by accessing
the database)
Leaders needs to collaborate with school systems –
establish relationships and trust and let the local
schools know what we are doing
Juveniles sentenced as adults have an especially
difficult time finding jobs and gaining life skills
E3 -- Enhancing collaboration with public
schools
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Build understanding among public education officials
about what happens in facilities
Streamline paperwork – move away from separate
requests (liaison appointments in each entity will help
streamline records exchange)
Create a form stressing the law and the need for quick
access to high school records
Collaboration between leaders in mental health, health
services, and social services to create true wraparound
services
A continuum of services must exist in the transition
plan
E4 -- Enhancing collaboration within facilities
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Attend monthly or regular staff meetings about
students
Leadership is key to make collaboration happen
Form teams that wraparound students (e.g.,
correctional officers meet with teachers and give
updates)
Training is essential
Hire the good and fire the bad
Ongoing staff development – train together
Train – update – train - update
Active team-building and team meetings (including
management)
Include education staff in facility management
meetings
Create a learning environment that all staff (e.g.,
therapists, security) are expected to be a part of
E4 -- Enhancing collaboration within facilities
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Establish that everyone is responsible for these kids
Reach decisions about youth through a
multidisciplinary approach
Have high expectations for all employees
Establish common behavioral codes, mission, and goals
for all staff
Use teleconferencing as a tool
Create flexible scheduling
Create links between education and treatment topics
(e.g., health, substance abuse)
Ensure dignity and respect for juveniles and staff
T1 -- Transition planning before release
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Identify and build a relationship with community
resources, partners, and supporting agencies prior to
release– formalize this process
Develop a team
Use a common assessment that is strength based
Provide a continuum of competency-based vocational
programs to match employment opportunities
Begin and maintain transition dialogue prior to release
Involve family and caregiver in assessment process
Policy and procedure (i.e., consistent protocol) that is
basic to all students
Consistent members of reintegration teams that stay
within youth from DOC to community
T1 -- Transition planning before release
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Connect with judges and courts for transition back to
home states if youth is placed in out-of-state facilities
Identify funding streams to increase effectiveness—
creative use of streams
Systematic sequential action plan
Link with faith-based activities and other communitybased programs
Link with recreation, leisure activities
Create an individualized support system for release
(e.g., a portfolio with skills and needs and contact
names/numbers for resources)
Have a database of services – a menu from which to
individualize
T2 -- Professional development activities and
transition training
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Cross-training to understand the roles of others both
within and outside the facility to foster understanding
of each other’s role, expertise, etc.
Minimum standards for transition programming with
measurable outcomes that cuts across all agencies
Faith-based and other community agencies training
Various modes for training—e.g., distance learning,
teleconferencing
Build professional development into contracts and link
to funding sources
Access specific training
Identify one program and provide training and provide
continuity
Training incentives
T2 -- Professional development activities and
transition training
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Spokane, WA – CLN, 747 sites
Identify why some people don’t show up to conferences
– identify needs and obstacles
Ongoing, system-wide workshops with follow up to
support common language, ideas
T3 -- Developing and enhancing communication,
coordination, and commitment
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Develop a common mission statement among agencies
to serve as a foundation
Ongoing systematic tracking of kids in transition
Coordinate balance between legal rights, transition
needs, and sharing of records
Identify resources available in each state
Front-line workers network and report back to
administrators
Align coursework with local schools
Have purposeful, scheduled meetings to address issues
– and involve key stakeholders
Backward mapping—identify needs and then
determine who needs to be there
T3 -- Developing and enhancing communication,
coordination, and commitment
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Focus on student needs during the transition process –
keep this as the central focus
Cross-site visits to familiarize transition staff with
programs
Sending complete information (e.g., assessments,
education, mental health) with youth as they travel
through system
Use teleconferencing to share information
Impact legislation around competing laws that preclude
delivery of a comprehensive transition/reentry plan
T4 -- Mentoring and youth engagement in school
and work
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Find realistic vocations with realistic community
potential for employment
Parole advocates to work with employers and allow for
successful employment
Job mentors – help successful integration into job site
Active engagement and active support
Engagement – to have wraparound and follow-up
support for the time period after the students is in the
community, and then gradually taper off
To facilitate guidance
OJJDP (funding source) – restorative justice
JUMP – mentoring program
T4 -- Mentoring and youth engagement in school
and work
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Establishing relationships while youth are inside and
continuing relationships after release
Employment/job counseling and independent living
Social skills
Mentoring.org – manual for training mentors and
expected outcomes
To promote activities that incorporate and support
positive character, thinking, and decision-making that
manifests positive consequences
A1 -- Opportunities for families to become
effective advocates
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Provide peer key information on the system: language
of the system (e.g., fact sheets, talking points that are
succinct), function of the system, how to navigate the
system
Ensure that parents have access to trainings, provided
by professionals, that focus on enhancing and
empowering family involvement and communication
between parents and agencies
Ensure legal representation
Ensure parents are actively involved in the procedures
and decision-making process, or have the opportunity
to be so, from the beginning and every step of the way
Training programs for parents
Special education representation for all kids
Special education and disabilities information—access
A1 -- Opportunities for families to become
effective advocates
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Use extant parent centers as resources
Encourage parents to get involved early—e.g., school
boards, legislatures
Provide rural access through technology
Think about how we can change the environment the
child is expected to function in
Examine risk factors that are identified by various,
appropriate agencies
Ensure collaboration between all agencies
Look at parents as allies, not adversaries
Address cultural differences and overrepresentation in
all systems (e.g., classrooms)
Communicate – educate --effectuate
A2 -- Resources and training needs of
professionals
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Special education and disabilities information
Conference and/or workshops that provide
opportunities to network and share information (e.g.,
knowing the roles of different agencies and seeing how
each responds to different/similar situations)
Court-appointed lawyers trained in special education
Train “youth development approach”
More time, smaller case loads
Cultural simulations of youth moving through juvenile
justice system
Systems accountability and data collection
Representation at interrogations – or taping of
interrogation
Risk assessment upon intake
A2 -- Resources and training needs of
professionals
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Information on identification of disabilities and child
development
Community education—everyone involved needs more
information
Communicate, educate, “effectuate”
Certification to practice in juvenile court
Social workers/probation officers who understand
disability law, programs, and protection/disability
rights
A3 -- Juvenile court awareness and response to
disability needs
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Educate by presenting at meetings of professional
organizations and professional development events
Effective interagency communication and collaboration
Youth developmental approach
Functional Behavior Assessments
Juvenile court needs access to student information and
a clear understanding of the child’s life
Conduct home visits – talk to care providers
Reduce the power of judges – jury trial?
Keep juveniles in juvenile court
Minimize number of beds – less lock up and lock up
serious offenders only
A3 -- Juvenile court awareness and response to
disability needs
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Look at reasons for behavior – not just the behavior
Failure to provide services results in kids falling
through the cracks
A4 -- Promoting self-advocacy
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Ensure students have the opportunity to reconnect with
the various agencies
Provide information about their disability framed in
their language
Build coping skills and self-esteem
Help educate parents in working with youth to support
efforts
Focus on social skills – awareness through curriculum
Basic quality education
Social Q’s
Accommodations under ADA: translate, time limits—
submit questions, use IEP
Support positive behavior – catch them being good
Responsibility for behavior – relevant consequences –
restorative justice
A4 -- Promoting self-advocacy
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Coaching behavior – teach by example
Train youth-led presentation of information on IEP
Synthesis of key points will be posted on the
EDJJ website:
www.edjj.org
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PARTICIPATION