Juvenile Treatment Drug Court

Juvenile Drug Court News & a Webinar

• Got a juvenile drug court? This May, drug courts around the country will honor National Drug Court Month by holding events with the theme "All Rise: Putting Drug Court Within Reach of Every Person in Need.” Want help or ideas on how your jurisdiction can celebrate? Download the National Drug Court Month Field Kit from the National Association of Drug Court Professionals -- there's even a national "commencement" day on Thursday, May 20, 2010. (Hat tip to Christa Myers, project director of Reclaiming Futures Hocking County, OH.)
• While this webinar isn't specifically for juvenile drug court practitioners, it has obvious application: on May 4, 2010, the Council of State Governments' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project is offering a webinar sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, titled,  "Working with Data for Mental Health Court Practitioners." It'll be held from 2pm - 3pm EST. Follow the link to register. For inquiries about this webinar or other webinars in the series, please email Elizabeth Meyer or call her at (646) 383-5718.

The importance of witnessed collections (for urine drug testing) cannot be over-emphasized. Urine collections that are not witnessed are of little or no abstinence assessment value because of the propensity of juvenile substance abusers not to provide a legitimate sample (denial, efforts to hide relapse/use).
The definition of “witnessed collections” is direct, full-frontal, line-of-sight observation -- basically, staring at a participant‘s genitals while he or she produces a urine sample.
Difficult? Yes! Uncomfortable? No doubt! Necessary? Absolutely critical!

Are you attending the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) 20th Annual National Leadership Forum in National Harbor, MD next week?
Come and join us to learn more about how Reclaiming Futures is being implemented through juvenile drug court grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
The workshop, titled, "Juvenile Drug Courts:  Building the Model," will give an overview of juvenile drug courts -- their history, challenges, 16 strategies for developing and maintaining them, and current performance measures for success. It will also focus on OJJDP's work to build the juvenile drug court program model through its partnerships with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Reclaiming Futures.
Gwen Williams, MSW, who is a Program manager at OJJDP, will be the primary presenter. She will be joined by Yvonne Sherrer, Community Fellow at the Reclaiming Futures site in Dayton, OH, and Christa Meyers, Project Director at the Reclaiming Futures site in Hocking County, OH. 
"Juvenile Drug Courts:  Building the Model" will be held on Thursday, February 11th, from 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm, in the room called "National Harbor 4/5."

Got a juvenile drug court that's been operational for at least one year? Want to expand its treatment capacity?
Purpose of the grant: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is giving away nearly nine million dollars to help you "expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in juvenile drug courts to "provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to juvenile defendants/offenders. Priority for the use of the funding should be given to addressing gaps in the existing continuum of treatment."
Award amounts: SAMHSA expects to give away 27 grants amounting to approximately $325,000/year each for up to three years.
Application deadline: Grants are due February 23, 2010.
 
(Photo by borman818.)

Juvenile Justice System News - An Important Survey, plus Webinars and One Grant Opportunity

• Please take or pass on this quick online survey for kids who used to be in the juvenile justice system, family members of kids in the system, and people of color new to the field of juvenile justice reform. The National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) compiled the survey to help shape its first Juvenile Justice Leadership Development Institute, which it plans to hold in July 2010. The mission of the Institute is to create a "more effective juvenile justice reform movement by developing a strong base of well prepared and well trained advocates who reflect the communities most affected by juvenile justice system practices and policies, with a particular focus on cultivating and supporting leaders of color, youth and family members." Hurry, though, the deadline to complete it is Monday, December 14th!

Got a juvenile drug court? Considering starting one?
The MacArthur Foundation's juvenile justice reform initiative, Models for Change, recently released a set of evidence-based practice recommendations for juvenile drug courts.
Developed in a statewide project in Louisiana, the recommendations focus on

1. screening and assessment;
2. improving alcohol and drug treatment (along with treatment for co-occurring disorders); and
3. outcome monitoring.

(Hat tip to Christa Myers of the  Reclaiming Futures initiative in Hocking County, Ohio.)
Related Post:

• Here's a handy list of existing evidence-based treatment programs, information about evidence-based practices and tips for implementing your own practice.
• Check out this post for research on what works best when implementing an EBP.

Juvenile Justice Reform Stories

• Wyoming begins making progress on juvenile justice reform.
• Reclaiming Futures in action: a teen mom in our site in Dayton, Ohio, gets off drugs and alcohol and sets her sights on a brighter future. (Don't miss this earlier post on the juvenile drug court there.)
• A U.K. study recommends widespread use of restorative justice practices with juvenile offenders to cut recidivism rates, based on success seen in Northern Ireland.
• A Florida program is fast-tracking the court cases of teens who reoffend most often, mirroring some "frequent flyer" programs that have been tried out for adult chronic offenders in other cities. No mention in the article of alcohol and drug treatment, mental health treatment, or other services for teens in the program. (Hat tip to @justicestudies.)

New federal funding has been awarded to expand the Reclaiming Futures model into three more juvenile drug courts across the country over the next four years.
The nearly $3.7 million federal investment was announced by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). RWJF is providing approximately $1 million in additional technical assistance to implement the Reclaiming Futures model.

The recipe necessary to reclaim the lives of youth that have penetrated the juvenile justice system begins in our own kitchens. One part parents, one part community, a dash of judicial intervention (to taste) and we have a life that is once again shining and full of promise. 
 
Case in point: on September 10, 2009, the Greene County Juvenile Drug Treatment Court (JDTC) -- click on the photo at left for a larger view of our team1 -- successfully graduated one of our youth, due to the engagement of the youth and family, the commitment from the JDTC team, and the overall support from the community in Greene County. This commencement represented a very important milestone for a young man who continually demonstrated a willingness to make positive changes in his life.

[This article on the juvenile drug court in the Reclaiming Futures site in Nassau County, NY originally appeared, in a longer form in the Spring 2009 issue of the Nassau News, the newsletter of the 10th Judicial District, Nassau County.]
 
On March 4, 2009, Nassau County, NY held its first Juvenile Drug Treatment Court (JTC) graduation. Three teenagers successfully completed the program.
 
It was a little overwhelming to think we already had three graduates. When we first talked about creating the program, it had seemed like a logistical impossibility.
 
And after we got our first participant, there were immediate doubts: What were we thinking? How do we expect to help this kid get off drugs? We’re not equipped. This is never going to work.