By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
Saline County and two other Kansas communities, have accepted and implemented a program that is meant to help children who are at risk of, or are dually-involved between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
According to the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), and the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC), they have partnered with the Center for Youth Justice (CYJ) program at Georgetown University, to implement the Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM) in 2019.
According to the KDOC, Kansas has fully implemented the program in three communities and will be expanding into three new communities.
Those communities include:
- Saline
- Franklin
- Atchison
This will mean the communities like Saline, will implement a collaborative framework between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems to better support "crossover youth"—those who are at risk of or are dually-involved with both systems.
"Ultimately, the CYPM provides Saline County with a proven, research-supported strategy to help vulnerable young people stay connected, supported, and on a positive path," said Joe Hay, Saline County Commissioner. "As Kansas continues to broaden its implementation, local youth will benefit from a more responsive, coordinated, and effective system of care."
Some of the effects of "crossover youth" include:
- Higher rates of mental and physical health problems.
- Increased juvenile-justice involvement.
- Poorer long-term outcomes in education and employment.
According to KDOC, the CYPM has been implemented in over 125 counties across 23 states, including several jurisdictions in Kansas.
Key elements of CYPM include:
- Creating a process for identifying youth at the earliest point of crossover.
- Ensuring that staff exchange information in a timely manner both within their own agency and with the other agencies and partners involved.
- Developing a coordinated case planning process between the agencies involved with the youth.
- Ensuring transparency in case processes for youth and families.
- Addressing foster care bias, including at detention or disposition.
- Maximize the services utilized by each system to prevent crossover and unnecessary system involvement from occurring.
Megan Milner, KDOC Deputy Secretary of Juvenile & Adult Community-Based Services, said “Cross-system collaboration is essential to meeting the needs of crossover youth, who are some of the highest need youths in our state. The CYPM model has helped Kansas create a lasting framework for our systems to work together at both the state and local levels to benefit system-involved youth and communities who are serving them”.
Kansas defines "crossover youth" as a young person age 10 or older, with any level of concurrent involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Involvement in the juvenile justice system includes, but is not limited to, court-ordered community supervision, Immediate Intervention Programs (IIPS), and youth placed in detention and correctional facilities.
Involvement in the child welfare system includes, but is not limited to, out-of-home placements or participation in preventative services.
Additionally, CYJ and the statewide Crossover Coordinators from the DCF, KDOC, and Office of Judicial Administration (OJA) assisted Sedgwick County in updating their existing CYPM protocols, by providing technical assistance to the local CYPM team.
Stacy Tidwell, Deputy Director of Youth Programs for DCF, said, “The work around the CYPM model and the subsequent toolkit represents an intentional collaboration between DCF, OJA, and KDOC, partnering to support some of the highest need youth in the state. This is about identifying and removing systemic barriers and capitalizing on the resources available in Kansas communities to support youth and families."
The Kansas Crossover Statewide Toolkit was released April 17th, to assist counties in understanding what CYPM implementation would entail.
Technical assistance and support will be provided by the Kansas Crossover Coordinators for up to 24 months via regular virtual and in-person meetings to accomplish selected communities’ goals for their adoption of the CYPM.
Jurisdictions will be selected to implement the Model based on need, interest and capacity.
"We are in the beginning stages locally here in Saline County with only a couple of collaboration meetings being held thus far," said Hay.
Learn more about CYPM and access the toolkit by visiting the Kansas Department of Corrections’ website at doc.ks.gov.
About Center for Youth Justice
CYJ at Georgetown, supports and educates leaders across systems of care to advance a balanced, multi-system approach to improving outcomes for, and promoting the positive development of, youth at risk of youth legal system involvement.
Shay Bilchik founded CYJ as the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown in 2007.
According to Bilchik, he founded CYJ, as he would "hope it would become an influential voice in shaping best policy and practice in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, particularly as it relates to working across systems of care.”
This year it was named as Center for Youth Justice.
Learn more by clicking here.