Children in the juvenile justice system are often removed from their homes and schools to facilities outside their community and, as a result, they are separated from caring adults who know them well. These adults, who may include a biological parent, a grandparent, an aunt, coach, or other mentor, are important to a child's rehabilitation, recovery, and healing. In many cases, they will also be the primary source of support once youth reenter their communities. Regular input from a youth's familywhether biological or "chosen"is key to successful outcomes for youth at all points in the juvenile justice spectrum. Yet, too often, families are kept at the margins, whether in the courts, in the development of a case plan, or in reentry services.
In July 2011, the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention identified family engagement as a major item for consideration and action. Administered by OJJDP, the council brings together senior officials from the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ), Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor (DOL), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and other federal agencies to share information and resources, and to work toward the enhancement and reform of policies and practices on a range of critical issues facing at-risk children as well as youth involved in the justice system.
The council meeting also included reports from members of a federal workgroup on recent activities to elevate family engagement as a priority within their respective agencies and to recommend ways that family engagement and partnerships can be advanced at the federal level.
The workgroup is composed of staff from OJJDP, HHS, and ED; over the past 18 months, it has shared ideas and strategies and collaborated with Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR). A CJJR monograph, Safety, Fairness, Stability: Repositioning Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare to Engage Families and Communities, released in May 2011, outlines a vision for fostering the interpersonal connections of youth and families so that significant relationships are maintained or restored. In November 2011, CJJR released a set of detailed recommendations to federal agencies that were developed with workgroup members and other stakeholders. The recommendations cover a range of topics, including creating and embedding family-focused policies and practices in the work of federal agencies, building infrastructure to formally include families in the development and implementation of policies and practices, and supporting families to become more effective advocates.
Shay Bilchik, Director,
Center for Juvenile Justice Reform
Workgroup representatives providing reports were Melodee Hanes, OJJDP's Acting Administrator and vice-chair of the council; David Esquith, Acting Director of ED's Office of Safe and Healthy Students; Larke Huang, Senior Advisor on Children at HHS's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Martha Moorehouse, Director of the Children and Youth Policy Division in HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; and Joe Bock, Acting Associate Commissioner of HHS's Children's Bureau.
Hanes reported that OJJDP activities and accomplishments include:
Hanes also summarized action items agreed to be undertaken jointly by the DOJ-HHS-ED workgroup:
"We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that when children come into our systems we can and should separate them from their families," said CJJR Director Shay Bilchik at the council meeting. "We need to think about how to help youth navigate those familiesto build on the families' strengths, and help overcome the weaknesses. We do our best work if families are at our core, not on the periphery."
Resources:
CJJR's report, Safety, Fairness, Stability: Repositioning Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare to Engage Families and Communities, is available on the center's Web site. For more information about the listening sessions on family engagement hosted by OJJDP, read the July/August 2011 issue of OJJDP News @ a Glance.