Department of Justice, MacArthur Foundation Provide $2 Million to Support Juvenile Justice Reform

On January 26, 2012, the Department of Justice issued the following press release:

In a new private-public partnership, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation are jointly providing $2 million to support innovative and effective reforms in treatment and services for youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

"We need to do what’s right for America's children," said Melodee Hanes, Acting Administrator of OJJDP. "This partnership supports state and community efforts to protect youth from harm, hold them accountable for their actions, provide for rehabilitation and improve public safety. In this tight economy, creatively partnering with a private organization such as MacArthur maximizes reform, while stretching limited public dollars."

OJJDP and the MacArthur Foundation each will provide a total of $1 million over two years to four organizations to support juvenile justice reform in four target areas. These organizations will in turn offer states and local governments training and technical assistance to improve mental health services for youth, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and better coordinate treatment and services for youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. The targeted reforms include: 

  • Mental Health Screening and Risk/Needs Assessment: The National Youth Screening and Assessment Project at the University of Massachusetts Medical School will provide technical assistance on the use of evidence-based tools for case planning to reduce out-of-home placements and recidivism. Contact Laura Guy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  • Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice: The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice at Policy Research, Inc. will provide comprehensive adolescent development and mental health training for juvenile correctional and detention staff to improve their ability to respond to youth with mental health needs. Contact Kathy Skowyra at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  • Disproportionate Minority Contact Reduction: The Center for Children’s Law and Policy will provide technical assistance on evidence-based strategies to measurably reduce racial and ethnic disparities within the juvenile justice system. Contact Tiana Davis at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  • Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare System Integration: The Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps will provide technical assistance on implementing effective practices to reduce recidivism and out-of-home placement and to improve correctional alternatives for youth in the juvenile justice system, with a history of maltreatment. Contact John Tuell at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Janet Wiig at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The partnership will build upon the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative that seeks to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice systems reform. OJJDP and MacArthur selected these four organizations because they helped develop, field test and evaluate effective best practice models included in the Models for Change initiative. The MacArthur Foundation has invested more than $100 million in promising juvenile justice reforms since 2004.

"Through our historic commitment to juvenile justice reform, MacArthur has identified and piloted effective models in key states. We are excited to collaborate with OJJDP now to support and spread these successful best practices for reform more broadly," said Laurie Garduque, MacArthur’s Director of Juvenile Justice.

 

News & Announcements

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Secondary Traumatic Stress: A Fact Sheet for Child-Serving Professionals
This fact sheet from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network details a concise overview of secondary traumatic stress and its potential impact on child-serving professionals; outlines options for assessment, prevention, and intervention relevant to secondary stress; and describes the elements necessary for transforming child-serving organizations and agencies into systems that also support worker resiliency. (2011)

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Bringing Back the Dads: Changing Practices in Child Welfare Systems

 

American Humane Association is proud to release the latest issue of Protecting Children for free! "Bringing Back the Dads: Changing Practices in Child Welfare Systems" is a compilation of articles providing a broad range of perspectives on the issues facing non-resident fathers and the child welfare system. This journal, produced with funding from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, through the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System, identifies promising casework, legal and judicial best practices, awareness to reduce barriers to engagement, and policies that impact the engagement of non-resident fathers.

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OJJDP Launches DMC Virtual Resource Center

 The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has launched the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Virtual Resource Center. This online center provides DMC coordinators, state advisory group members, and other juvenile justice professionals with tools and resources to support their state and local DMC efforts.

The Web site also provides networking opportunities for users to exchange data and information, share DMC training materials, and notify others about upcoming conferences, events, and current policies, practices, and procedures. Regular Web site spotlights will feature state and local DMC delinquency prevention and systems improvement activities.

 Resources:

 To visit the DMC Virtual Resource Center, click here.

 To read a spotlight on a state’s DMC efforts, click here.

 
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Together We Can Conference - Annual Award Recipients

Catherine Lafleur Legal Advocacy for Children & Families Award:

 Judge Charles Porter

Linda Christmas Service to Children & Families Award:

Myra Magee

Lifetime Commitment to Children & Families Award:

Martha Angelette
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Just Released: America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010

 America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010 updates a previous report created by The National Center on Family Homelessness titled America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child Homelessness. Our earlier report, based on 2006 data about the extent of the problem, was itself an update of a landmark study we issued in 1999 that provided the first comprehensive profile of America’s homeless children and families.

America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010 documents the numbers of homeless children in every state, their well-being, the risk for child homelessness, and state level planning and policy activities. Using findings from numerous sources that include well-established national data sets as well as our own research, we rank the states in each of four domains and then develop a composite of these domains to rank the states from 1 (best) to 50 (worst).

America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010 reports the following:

  • 1.6 million American children, or one in 45 children, are homeless in a year.
  • This equates to more than 30,000 children each week, and more than 4,400 each day.
  • Children experiencing homelessness suffer from hunger, poor physical and emotional health, and missed educational opportunities.
  • A majority of these children have limited educational proficiency in math and reading.
  • Not surprisingly, the risks for child homelessness—such as extreme poverty and worst case housing needs—have worsened with the economic recession, even though the total housing capacity for families increased by more than 15,000 units in the past four years, primarily due to the federal Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP).
  • Despite this bleak picture, planning and policy activities to support the growth and development of these vulnerable children remain limited. Sixteen states have done no planning related to child homelessness, and only seven states have extensive plans.

Released January, 2012.

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NEW:  Together We Can Practice Toolkit - December 2, 2011

The first edition of the TWC Practice Toolkit includes articles on:

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  • Meaningful Family Engagement: Considerations for Moving Beyond "Getting a Parent"
  • Engaging Non-Custodial Fathers in Child Welfare
  • Child Abuse or Mimic? A Tool for Pediatricians' Clinical Use
  • Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families

 It also includes new resources:

  • Love and Belonging for a Lifetime: Youth Permanency in Child Welfare
  • Family Engagement: A Web-based Toolkit
  • Toolkit to Help Spot Teens with Mental Health Issues
  • America's Children: Key Indicators of Well-Being
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  • New & Improved AdoptUSKids Website
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  • Free Father-Friendly Organizational Check-up
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  • OJJDP Launches DMC Virtual Resource Center
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 Click Here
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America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being - 2011 Report Released

A new report compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011 is a compendium of indicators depicting both the promises and the challenges confronting our Nation’s young people. The report, the 15th in an ongoing series, presents 41 key indicators on important aspects of children’s lives.

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