Editor
The Clermont County Juvenile Detention Center will be providing trauma informed case management and services after being awarded $56,051 from the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
The DYS awarded $1,628,804 in funding to 23 counties through the Detention Alternatives and Enhancements Initiative, which was created to keep juveniles from continuing down a path of crime, according to a press release from the DYS.
“Implementation grants will help fund physical plant enhancements as well as expand alternatives to secure detention, services and supports provided within the facilities,” the release states.
The alternatives could divert an estimated 800 from secure detention by June 2017. In addition, the DYS estimates the funding will benefit 4,200 who are required to spend time in detention.
About $400,000 of the funding will go towards physical improvements.
The applications were due on March 15 and the DYS announced the decision on May 4. In the applications, counties had to write what the program would entail, the target population, how the center would track performance and how many youth use the program or are expected to be diverted because of the program and the outcomes, said Regina Lurry, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative state coordinator.
“We’re looking forward to getting them started,” Lurry said.
She added, “I think it’s going to be a great thing for the communities.”
The funding had three categories: diverting youth from detention, funding for services in detention and physical plant enhancement. The DYS received 53 proposals and funded seven for diverting youth from detention, four in funding for services in detention and 11 in physical plant enhancement, Lurry said.
All the sites that received funding are very excited.
“Everything we’ve heard so far has been positive,” Lurry said.
Clermont County will be providing comprehensive childhood trauma informed case management and services to all the youth who come into the detention center in collaboration with the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati and the Family Violence Prevention Project of Cincinnati, said Gerald Bryant, Clermont County Juvenile/Probate Court director of court services, in an email.
The YWCA will hire a full-time case management coordinator for the detention center. The coordinator will use Adverse Childhood Experience Survey, a screening tool, to assess each youth that enters the facility within 72 hours of their arrival, Bryant said.
“The goal of this project is to improve the understanding of the effects of childhood trauma, as well as provide targeted trauma informed interventions and prevention models and services for juveniles while they are in the facility,” Bryant said.
The coordinator will also train the detention staff to be trauma informed and will begin support group services in the center using Safe Dates, a curriculum that discusses healthy relationships, Bryant said.
Through the services, the coordinator will be able to identify the juveniles that need services, in areas such as mental health, substance abuse or trauma. The coordinator will use Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy, a curriculum therapy, to provide support groups for juveniles suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The goal of this treatment is to help the youth regulate intense emotions and gain control of PTSD,” Bryant said.
He hopes that services will begin in June, as the YWCA is working to hire someone as soon as possible. The funding will pay for one year of the services, in which Bryant estimates the coordinator will impact 500-600 juveniles in Adams, Brown, Clermont and Clinton Counties. Adams, Brown and Clinton Counties contract with the center for beds.
“The outcomes that the court desires with this implementation centers around reducing youth behavior reports by 10 percent and reducing the amount of Violation of Court Orders/Probation Violations by 10 percent, which will have an impact on recidivism if successful,” Bryant said.
The coordinator’s work should reduce recidivism rates and help the juveniles as they become adults, Bryant said.
While the DYS hopes to provide additional funding, it is not guaranteed, Lurry said.