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July 01, 2008

PA's Juvenile Justice Leaders Commit to Family Involvement

A strong new push to include families as meaningful partners in their child’s care is coming this summer from juvenile justice leaders at the state level. This work is coming from a partnership between the MacArthur Foundation’s PA Models for Change, Family Involvement Subcommittee and the Balanced and Restorative Justice Implementation Committee of the PA Councils of Chief Juvenile Probation Officers.

Both groups have combined planning efforts to create a single working committee, which will develop strategies to increase family involvement in the juvenile justice system. Strategies will help individual families participate in their youth’s planning and will support families to be a part of the juvenile justice system reform work.

The Family Involvement Subcommittee has members from the juvenile justice system, as well as family advocates, who have personal and system experience with juvenile justice. This summer the Subcommittee is conducting focus groups across the state, as part of an investigative process which will lead to a monograph on family involvement in juvenile justice to be debuted in November 2008 at the Pennsylvania Conference on Juvenile Justice.

Background

The Balanced and Restorative Justice Implementation Committee has been responsible for advancing reform within Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice System for a decade. The Committee has just published their 2008 Strategic Plan for Advancing Balanced and Restorative Justice. 

The Strategic Plan has added a new goal as follows:

To develop a family involvement focus within the balanced and restorative justice model.

Objective #1:

The Family Involvement Committee of the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Initiative will become a workgroup of the Balanced and Restorative Justice Committee.

Activities:

• Balanced and Restorative Justice Committee Chair and Committee members will approve the partnership.
• Volunteers from the Balanced and Restorative Justice Committee will represent this workgroup.
• The Family Involvement Workgroup will:
  
  
  • Develop a common definition of Family Involvement/Engagement
  • Develop a set of underlying principles and concepts that support the definition and provide further explanation to the nation of Family Involvement/ Engagement,
  • Develop a set of underlying principles and concepts that support the definition and provide further explanation to the notion of Family Involvement/Engagement,
  • Retain a consultant to assist in the development of a monograph for the field,
  • Publish a monograph on Family Involvement in the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice System.

The Family Involvement Subcommittee is part of the Models for Change (MfC) Mental Health/Juvenile Justice (MH/JJ) State Team.  The John D. and Catherine T. Foundation selected Pennsylvania as the first state to participate in the MfC initiative. Pennsylvania was chosen because it is considered a "bellwether" state in juvenile justice, it has a favorable reform climate, and it seems poised to become an exemplary system.

The MH/JJ State Team developed a Policy Paper describing the fundamentals of a comprehensive model Juvenile Justice system and the strategies to achieve it by 2010, which was signed by the state leadership of all relevant systems.

"Our goal is to support every Pennsylvania County in developing, through a collaborative Effort among all child-serving systems and families, a comprehensive system that features the key components of identification, diversion, short term interventions and crisis management, evidence based treatment and continuity of care/aftercare planning for youth with mental health needs and co-occurring substance abuse issues. Such a system will integrate families into the planning for and delivery of services, and ensure that youth’s legal rights are protected at all stages."