Two Systems Come Together in Illinois with a Common Goal of Helping Juveniles in Trouble
Oct 22, 2009, Illinois Models for Change
DuPage County, Illinois’ second largest county, is well known as an economic and political powerhouse. More recently, the county also is earning a reputation as a leader in the field of juvenile justice reform.
Selected as a Models for Change demonstration site in 2006, DuPage’s reform work has concentrated on improving responses to youth charged with domestic battery, enhancing supervision and treatment of sex offenders, and encouraging and assisting parents to become more involved in trying to change the behavior of their children.
A fourth area of focus in DuPage is dually-involved youth, those juveniles who come in contact with both the state’s child protection system and the juvenile justice system. Even though dually-involved are a small percentage of the DuPage children in either system, DuPage leaders believe the extra attention is warranted because failure to reach them early will guarantee expensive rounds of treatment and possible delinquency system involvement long into the future.
“Most of them have experienced some trauma in their lives, often more than once,” said Robert Vickery, Program Manager of Probation Services in DuPage County. “They have unique needs. If the system knows more about their histories and their needs, we can tailor the response and have a better chance of helping them.”
DuPage Work Is Informed By Research
The Models for Change demonstration site in DuPage is working with a team of researchers reviewing data from the juvenile justice system and from child protection services to learn more about the DuPage youth who have come in contact with both systems. Preliminary results indicate there is a small population of dually-involved children in DuPage County. However, it appears to be a population that makes repeated visits to juvenile detention, and they often stay longer than other juveniles, according to Vickery.
The history, characteristics and outcomes of foster care children involved in the juvenile justice system in DuPage County is part of the focus of a research project led by Joseph P. Ryan, an associate professor with the Child and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois and supported by other experts in the Models for Change network of researchers. (Read more about the research project here: http://www.modelsforchange.net/about/research/ryan.html)
The research will be completed soon, and the findings will be detailed on the Models for Change website.
Summit Encourages Discussion
In the meantime, DuPage County leaders are examining local policy and practice to find opportunities for improvement. Their Models for Change team recently hosted a daylong summit meeting featuring national experts in the field and an exchange of ideas among representatives of the juvenile justice system and child welfare in DuPage and other Models for Change demonstration sites in Illinois.
The participation by Judge Stephen J. Culliton, Chief Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit, and Erwin McEwen, Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, was a good indication that leaders at the highest levels of both systems recognize the benefits to be gained from frank discussions and cooperation.
John A. Tuell, Director of the Child Welfare League of America’s Child Welfare – Juvenile Justice Systems Integration Initiative, told the summit participants that abuse and neglect of children increases the risk that those children will later exhibit some delinquent behavior, but he stressed that the increased risk of crime and violence is neither inevitable nor deterministic.
“These kids and these families are the most disadvantaged people in our communities,” Tuell said. “The research in this field doesn’t just suggest that the justice system and the child protection system should be cooperating. It screams for us to be working across multiple systems.”
DuPage on the Path to Success
Vickery said cooperation is underway in DuPage. The team is building a collaborative relationship with DCFS staff, and a strong collaboration has developed among the Probation Department, staff at a local residential placement, and the local police.
A better understanding of each dually-involved youth and their life histories could direct more appropriate therapeutic services to the juveniles and reduce the frequency of police contact and detention.
“The result of the work going on behind the scenes in DuPage is going to be of tremendous help to other counties in Illinois and elsewhere in the nation,” said Diane Geraghty, director of the Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Center in Chicago, which is the lead entity for Models for Change in Illinois. “Because children involved in both the justice system and the child protection system often are trying to cope with the effects of childhood years marred by abuse and neglect, they can be the most difficult to reach.
“The easy route would be to treat them like all other children with behavior problems,” she continued. “However, the leaders of DuPage, to their credit, decided this was a group they wanted to help as soon as possible. They are determined to learn as much about them as they can and to use that information for a coordinated delivery of help to these children and their families.”
“This model is showing promising results,” Geraghty said. “Given more time, study and refinement, I’m confident it will be a model that other counties in Illinois and elsewhere will want to replicate.”
- Issues
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Aftercare
, Community-based alternatives
, Evidence-based practices
, Mental health
, Racial-ethnic fairness/DMC
, Right-sizing jurisdiction
- States
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Illinois
- Action networks
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DMC Action Network
, Mental Health / Juvenile Justice Action Network