Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

 
Resources for the Juvenile Justice System

• The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has completed its first-ever "Census of Juveniles on Probation" (CJP), which it says "provides critical data on the characteristics of youth on probation, the nature of their offenses, and how they are served." Initial findings were presented at the American Probation and Parole Association's Annual Training Institute on August 17, 2010. I can't find a report on line, but I expect it'll be out shortly. If I've just overlooked it, let me know where I can find it and I'll post it here. 
• Work with Native American youth, or for a tribe? You might be interested in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) Tribal Youth Program Web site. There, you'll find funding opportunities, resources on culturally appropriate prevention and intervention strategies, and federally-recognized tribes can request "web-based resources, individualized technical assistance, or on-site training or technical assistance."

Substance abuse is often a factor in families where the children are chronically neglected. That's why you might want to take part in webinar-plus-online-forum being put on by the American Humane Association, the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, and the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare. (Hat tip: Paul Savery.)

[The following is reposted with permission of the author and its original publisher, Phoenix House. --Ed.]

Addicted to Rehab?
On Sunday, I was more than a little put off by Bankole Johnson’s Washington Post [August 8, 2010] editorial, “We’re Addicted to Rehab. It Doesn’t Even Work.” It’s interesting to note that this piece comes just six months before the release of his new book on medications that “conquer alcoholism,” which will join countless other tomes that also claim to have the cure.

Juvenile Justice Reform in Jeopardy, or Headed for a Golden Age? 

• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) may be in trouble, if Congress reauthorizes it without increased funding for states to comply. That could mean that cash-strapped states may opt out, despite its long success and the high marks given to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the training and technical assistance it provides to support the JJDPA. What would happen in your state, if the federal allocation was reduced or stayed the same? 

With parity legislation and the changes that health care reform will bring, agencies that treat adolescents will need to adapt their business practices.
Reform expands available funding for prevention, treatment and recovery support services. It also opens the door to third-party reimbursement.
NIATx developed the NIATx Third-party Billing Guide to help agencies create or improve a system for billing third-party payers. The guide includes step-by-step instructions to implement a billing system, improve collections, and strengthen the business practices essential to stability and growth.

Download a copy of the NIATx Third-party Billing Guide today!

Are you a researcher with a background or interest in juvenile drug courts? Know someone who fits the bill?
Then check out a new grant solicitation from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to evaluate juvenile drug courts implemented with the Reclaiming Futures model. These sites have also been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
This goal of this three-year grant is "to conduct an independent evaluation of the combined effects of the two interventions to determine what system-level changes may result in increased efficiencies and cost effectiveness."
Objectives(as listed in the solicitation):

1. Assess the operations of juvenile drug courts/Reclaiming Futures model using established indices for performance, efficiencies, and cost effectiveness.
2. Improve the empirical knowledge base about juvenile drug courts and the Reclaiming Futures model.
3. Analyze the efficacy of combined efforts of juvenile drug courts and the Reclaiming Futures model.
4. Conduct case studies using administrative, collaboration, and quality indices and the sixteen (16) key elements of juvenile drug courts.
5. Evaluate the potential for replication of these models

Application deadline is August 20, 2010.

• Families and teens often need a quick orientation to the juvenile justice system -- but there's never one there when you want one. YouTube is changing that, though. Above is a 9-1/2-minute video from a Florida teen court that provides a thorough overview of how things work there (although it is, unfortunately, cut off prematurely.) Anyone have other examples they want to share?

[The following post on adolescent substance abuse and the fight over legalizing marijuana is reposted with permission from Jim Gogek's excellent new blog, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, or atodblog.com for short. I recommend you bookmark it - I have. Also, hat tip to Minnesota Recovery Connection for bringing the Join Together story on Gogek's blog to my attention. -Ed.]
One of the craziest arguments from the marijuana lobby is that young people should smoke marijuana because it’s less dangerous than alcohol. We were recently subjected to the strange spectacle of a group of mothers in Colorado pushing for marijuana legalization because alcohol is so dangerous for kids. There’s a whole organization dedicated to this cause. I’ll let you find the website yourself.

• Did you know that 60.6% of youths have witnessed violence and 46.3% have reported experiencing physical assault?

• Did you know that exposure to trauma, delinquency, and school failure are related? 

Chances are, trauma has affected many of the young people you work with in schools, child welfare, the juvenile justice system, or any other place where teens gather. 
That's why the Vulnerable Populations Portfolio at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is taking the unusual step of creating a time-limited online community forum, "Chronic Trauma and the Teen Brain -- foundation staff may direct funding to address the issue and want to know more about it. The goal of the forum is to learn from you—the expert—while connecting you to other experts.

Got a great idea for improving outcomes for children, youth, families, and victims who come into contact with the juvenile court?  The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) wants to hear from you.
NCJFCJ will hold its annual conference next year on March 27-30, 2011, in Reno, Nevada -- and would like you to submit your presentation proposal between now and September 15, 2010. Proposals will be entertained on a broad range of topics, including child abuse and neglect, mental health, delinquency, family law, domestic violence, and substance abuse.
If you still have questions, contact Diane Barnette via email, or via phone at (775) 784-6012.