Family Engagement

Nassau County, NY (2018 RED)

• • Description: The team aims to decrease recidivism rates for Black and Hispanic youth in the Village of Hempstead during the Probation Intake Adjustment process by partnering with key stakeholders in the community. Key strategies include collaborating with families served to identify barriers to involvement, strengthening family engagement policies and services, and bolstering the referral and service matching process to meet youth and families' needs.

  • Contacts:

    • Erika Deans, JDAI Coordinator Nassau County Probation Department

    • Dana Boylan, Executive Director, Youth Services Nassau County

    • DS Brazley, Legislative Aid Town of Hempstead

    • Theresa Drye, Program Manager Nassau County DHS, Office of Youth Services

    • Aleisha Garvin, Probation Supervisor Nassau County Probation Department

    • Russell Harris, Police Detective Hempstead Village Police

    • Donna Raphael, Senior Director of Advocacy and Community Relations Family and Children's Association

    • Laqueta Robbins-Kennedy, Director, Juvenile Detention Center Nassau County Probation Department

Jefferson County, Alabama (2015 RED)

• • Description: To reduce racial and ethnic disparities through family engagement and interagency collaboration. The main components of the project include: 1) developing a collaborative relationship with the local school districts, community partners, and law enforcement agencies, and 2) developing and administering survey for families to share their experiences and feedback with the court system.

    • Update (2017): In 2016, the team organized a training seminar on implicit bias for probation staff, law enforcement, school officials, and service providers. Self-reported training evaluation suggested that the training was effective in raising awareness of implicit bias and its potential detrimental impact. The team has also developed and administrated an "Exit Survey" for family court clients, and the feedback will help modify policies and procedures. The team has also been actively engaging the community thought hosting resource fairs, providing opportunities for parents and community members to share their opinions about the schools, and offering parenting skills training. In 2017, the team has identified additional areas of focus in reducing racial and ethnic disparities, including inadequate access to high-quality early learning programs and services, high rates of crime and unemployment, low school graduation rates, etc. The team also hosted the FIRST county-wide Truancy Intervention Program Conference.

  • Contacts:

    • Angela Harris, Supervisor of Student Services, Jefferson County Board of Education

    • Vanessa Jones, Director of Intake and Programs, Family Court of Jefferson County

    • Devella Malone, Juvenile Probation Officer/Education Liaison, Jefferson County Family Court-B

El Dorado County Probation, California (2014 YIC)

• • Description: Create an orientation brochure and information card with relevant contact info for each youth; Expand visitation hours, as well as the definition of who can visit; Explore transportation and video conferencing to facilitate family engagement; Organize monthly events for families.

    • Update (2015): The team has increased visiting opportunities at the facility (times/dates/locations), and some youth are transferred to another facility closer to home for the duration of a parent visit. Institutional officers now have more ability to approve special visits, and information about the facility and youth is now communicated to parents on a regular basis.

  • Contacts:

    • Vince Janette, Deputy Chief Probation Officer - El Dorado County Probation

    • Kaci Smith, Supervising Deputy Probation Officer (Institutions) - El Dorado County Probation

MercyFirst, New York (2014 YIC)

• • Description: Expand visitation (and definition of family), provide orientation for youth and families, train staff in family engagement, use JRIT, better include families in team conferences, create family goals and workbook, hold family events, use Skype videoconferencing.

  • Contacts:

    • Kristan Baker, Clinical Director - MercyFirst

    • Michelle Summers, Director of Residential Programs - MercyFirst

Oklahoma (2014 YIC)

• • Description: Undertake efforts to engage family such as transportation and video conferencing; Create a holistic reentry plan for OK; Research reentry and family engagement practices in other states and compare with OK’s; Create online resource with information and resources for the public, employees, and families; Create a parent Bill of Rights and orientation handbook; Adjust visitation hours; Expand reentry planning meetings for all youth, early on; Train staff on reentry planning, family engagement, etc.

  • Contacts: 

    • Phil Baty, Administrator of Programs - Oklahoma Southwest Oklahoma Juvenile Center

    • Janelle Bretten, Chief of Program - Office of Juvenile Affairs

    • Doris Fransein, District Judge - State of Oklahoma

    • Robert Morrey, Division Director ISD - Office of Juvenile Affairs

    • Kimberly Osmani, Statewide Transition Coordinator - Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services

    • John Pugh, Education Coordinator - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

    • Lisa Smith, Executive Director - Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth

    • Terry Smith, President/CEO - Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy

    • Sheamekah Williams, Senior Project Director - Oklahoma Department of Mental Health

    • Richard Yahola, Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist IV - Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services

Linn County, IA (Nov. 2011 MSI - Private)

• • Description: Help youth successfully reintegrate into the community after placement in residential settings by providing parent partners (successful parents of reentered kid from JJ who are trained to lead Family Team Meetings for new parents going through the same thing) and comprehensive case management across domains (education, mental health, etc.)

  • Contact: Michael Mitchell, Assistant Executive Director - Four Oaks

District of Columbia (Nov. 2011 MSI - Private)

• • Description: Maintaining and strengthening ties between separated siblings who come into foster care or are adopted; articulate the benefits of keeping siblings together to relevant stakeholders.

  • Contact: Louis Henderson, President, Henderson and Associates, LLC.

White Plains, New York  (Nov. 2011 MSI - Private)

• • Description: Implement an internal and external communications strategy that articulates the importance of family engagement

  • Contact: Kerry Megley, Assistant Executive Director - Family Ties of Westchester, Inc.

Hennepin County, Minnesota (Nov. 2011 MSI Private)

• • Description: Webcams; family ecograms; develop collaborative partnerships (private agencies); track outcomes from youth who use their care/services.

    • Update (2012): Karen and her team has made accomplishment in establishing relationships and collaboration with the school district and county youth-serving agencies. Mesabi Academy also provide RED data to Hennepin County to support Hennepin County's work in reducing disproportionality and disparity. 

  • Contact: Karen Moller, Executive Director - KidsPeace Mesabi Academy

Maryland (Nov. 2011 MSI - Private)

• • Description: Family ecograms; positive parenting interventions to facilitate family engagement and prevent out of home placement.

  • Contact: David Brown, Director of Education - The Good Shepherd Center

San Luis Valley, CO (Oct. 2011 MSI - Public)

• • Description: Infuse family engagement and joint case planning into implementation of CYPM.

    • Update (2015): The team has provided cross systems training (including SB94, Probation, Human/Social Services, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse) and judicial training for CYPM staff and developed standardized lists and operations manual for working with cross-systems youth. The Project has merged into its CYPM work.

    • Update (2024): The County is still using the Crossover Youth Practice Model, but are no longer collecting data after the Colorado legislature made crossover work mandatory. They continue to see the benefits of the model for the crossover youth they serve.

  • Contacts:

    • Cindy Cotten, Senate Bill 94 Coordinator - 12th Judicial District Probation Department

    • Bill Gurule, Chief Probation Officer - 12th Judicial District Probation, Colorado

    • Kari Harp, HB 1451/Interagency Oversight Group Coordinator, Alamosa/Conejos - Joint Interagency Oversight Group and the San Luis Valley Mental Health Center

    • Judy McNeilsmith, Director, Community Resource Development - San Luis Valley Community Mental Health Center

    • Laurie Rivera, Deputy Director of Services - Alamosa County Department of Human Services

    • Clarissa Woodworth, Director of Development - San Luis Valley Community Mental Health Center

Essex County, MA (Oct. 2011 MSI - Public)

• • Description: Reduce the number of youth coming into contact with the courts by 1) training juvenile justice staff in the DA’s office on crossover youth, 2) engaging youth and families in diversion programs, 3) help counselors better understand their role in the diversion program, and 4) track outcomes of these effects to continue to improve over time.

  • Contacts:

    • Ruth Budelmann, Juvenile Justice Program Director - Essex County District Attorney's Office

    • Mariellen Fidrych, Assistant Director of Juvenile Justice - Essex County District Attorney's Office

    • Meghan Meagher, Juvenile Justice Program Manager - Essex County District Attorney's Office

Bolivia (Oct. 2011 Oct MSI - Public)

• • Description: Increase the number of youth completing alternatives to detention by improving assessment and case planning, with a particular focus on improving family location (JRIT), placement decision making, and family engagement (upon placement with planning in a diversion-like program they have there called Alternative Liberty Sentencing), including creation of a family engagement manual. Also, improve mental and behavioral health assessment.

  • Contacts: Yoko Wada, UNV in Juvenile Justice - UNICEF Bolivia Country Office

Massachusetts (2010 MSI - Public)

• • Description: Survey families about  satisfaction regarding child welfare services and use to inform future direction/trainings.

    • Update (2016): The team developed a family survey that included 3 categories: assessment, residential, and community. 100 families completed each category anonymously, and the Department of Youth Services has adapted the family survey template to do a youth survey assessing how well DYS youth are aging out of the system and their experience with the re-entry process. DYS is working to develop a survey that can be embedded into the practices so that collecting feedback from families becomes a routine and consistent process. As a follow-up, the team has been working with Harvard students to continue exploring and developing best family engagement practices.

  • Contacts:

    • Jeanne Tomich, Assistant Director of Clinical Services - Massachusetts Department of Youth Services

    • Yvonne Sparling, Director of Clinical Services - Massachusetts Department of Youth Services

Florida (2010 MSI - Private)

• • Description: Collect data on and identify crossover youth who are also pregnant or parenting parents.  Connect these youth and their children with services.  This is in conjunction with Miami's Baby Court (GAP).

  • Contacts:

    • Linda Freeman, Executive Director - Trinity Church, Inc.

    • Shellie Solomon, Chief Executive Officer - Justice & Security Strategies, Inc.

Bernalillo County, New Mexico (2008 MSI CPI)

• • Description: Originally Project - Develop parenting programs and install nurses as a part of the county parole and probation unit. *NOTE* A year into the project, Greg learned that there is a greater system issue with juvenile justice program and services in New Mexico as a whole, and that there is an inability to adequately measure a program's effectiveness. Therefore, Greg changed direction of his Capstone Project to develop a more effective outcome-driven and performance-based system for the juvenile justice system. 

    • Update (2012): Greg had applied to an OJJDP grant to propose a two-year project aiming to develop standards of juvenile justice services available to delinquent and adjudicated youth, from their first contact with law enforcement through post-commitment. This standard mirrors the development, implementation, and accountability used by the Administration for Children and Families for its Child and Family Services Review (CFSR). In 2012, Greg has completed the OJJDP grant, developed the Juvenile Justice Service Review Tool (JJSR), and conducted research on the JJSR tool. The results showed that JJSR can provide both qualitative and systemic measures of the department's effectiveness to operationalizing its reform initiatives.

  • Contact: Greg Nelson, Programs Director - Children Youth and Families Deprt-Juv. Justice Services.

Texas (2008 MSI CPI)

• • Description: 1) Map and fill gaps in services (including mapping and blending funding); 2) Creating mentoring program for crossover youth; 3) Creating monthly parenting program between nurses and young mothers. 

  • Contact: Elizabeth Kolb, County Attorney - Guadalupe County