Social worker helping detained juveniles
Posted on Friday, September 5, 2008
Since the introduction of a full-time social worker to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center in 2004, the number of commitments of local juveniles to statewide Division of Youth Services correctional units has dropped from 41 to seven through June of this year.
Total Division of Youth Services commitments in the state through June this year were 303. There were a little more than 1, 000 juvenile intakes in Washington County last year.
Courts order Division of Youth Services commitments when other efforts to deter juvenile delinquents fail.
Washington County's low Division of Youth Services commitment number was just one tidbit of information shared Thursday night by county juvenile detention officials during the Quorum Court Jail / Law Enforcement / Courts Committee meeting.
It was part of a comprehensive report prepared by county juvenile detention officials to track statistics from 2000 to this year.
The center's full-time social worker, Shelley Clingan, who has a master's degree in social work, outlined the assessments she performs and referrals made to help juveniles who get in trouble, whether they are one-time or multiple offenders. She also talked about finding treatment alternatives to keep Juvenile Judge Stacey Zimmerman from having to commit juveniles to the Division of Youth Services facilities.
Jean E. Mack, director of the county's Juvenile Detention Center, told justices of the peace that Washington County has been on the cutting edge of the nationwide therapeutic trend in handling juvenile delinquents.
Clingan talked about the Social Work Intervention Program that was established in 1995 using interns and funded by a Juvenile Accountability Block Grant. She said hiring a full-time social worker in 2004 allowed for more consistency in helping juveniles.
She said trends in juvenile justice are moving toward a blending of penal and therapeutic interventions, and that juveniles being developmentally different than adults makes them more amenable to treatment and rehabilitation.
She said that, according to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, the most successful mental health programs - those that treat young offenders in their families and communities - reduce recidivism up to 80 percent.
Jerry Friend, chief probation officer for juveniles in the county, talked about diversion programs that help juveniles in detention and those who are not. He also credited Clingan's work in helping reduce recidivism. That percentage - which is recidivism of intakes in the detention center - has gone from nearly 30 percent in 2000 to about 24 percent this year.
Steve Zega, vice chairman of the Quorum Court Jail / Law Enforcement / Courts Committee, asked how much Zimmerman's efforts to avoid Division of Youth Services commitments had to do with the reduction in Division of Youth Services commitments.
"Judge Zimmerman is very treatment-oriented," Clingan said, adding, however, that she is not afraid to commit juveniles to Division of Youth Services facilities.
She said the social work program at the detention center should be expanded to allow more on-site interventions, groups, vocational programs and one-on-one therapy, as well as more aftercare plans and case management to follow through with juveniles.
Justice of the Peace Ken Kieklak voiced his appreciation for detention staff efforts.
"These programs have just blossomed," he said. "You're providing opportunities for the kids to really change."
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