HB 1338: Prince Georges County Juvenile Court and School Safety Workgroup

Improving The Lives of Marylands Dually Involved GirlsJune 11, 2014

A project generously funded by the Abell Foundation & the Jewish Womens Giving Foundation. Good morning. Thank you all for taking the time to be here today. My name is Megan Lucy and I am the Child Welfare and Education Policy Associate at Advocates for Children and Youth. 1CHILD WELFAREHEALTHEDUCATIONJUVENILE JUSTICEEvery childs ally

Improving the lives of children for generations to come

Independent research and proven best practices

Conveners and leaders

Advocates for Children and Youth (ACY)And before we get started, I do want to provide a little bit of background to our organization. We are a nonprofit, policy advocacy organization here in Maryland. We use research and best practices as we partner with state and local agencies to change policies and improve outcomes for youth across the state. We work in four issue areas: health, education, child welfare and juvenile justice. And, much like this project Ill be talking about today, we often work at the intersection of these issue areas which allows us to affect the entirety of a childs world.2Todays presentationTodays presentation is going to be about a project that is actually at the intersection of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. More specifically, it is about ACYs recent work over the last two years to better understand the needs and experiences of girls, specifically, who have had involvement in both the CW and JJ systems.

Today Ill first provide a little background to the issue, and then Ill dive right into ACYs original research on dually-involved girls and our process of convening stakeholders and developing recommendations. 3Herz, et. al. (2012). Addressing the Needs of Multi-System Youth: Strengthening the Connection Between Child Welfare & Juvenile Justice. Washington, DC: Center for Juvenile Justice ReformWhat is dual involvement?So according to the research, dually involved youth can mean a lot of different things, depending on the depth of involvement in either system (which you see represented here) or the timeline, or pattern, of involvement (which you will see on the next slide).

But for the purposes of ACYs work and this presentation, we use the term in as broad of a way as possible to mean ANY involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This allows us to be able to have the most far-reaching impact on systems-involved girls.

Most generally, Dual involvement refers to when a youth has contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems which the way ACY uses the term. The research defines the phenomenon using a variety of terms that reflect the level of involvement with both systems. However, for the purposes of ACYs work, we use the term widely to include youth with any level of involvement, i.e. ACYs dually involved = dually involved, dually adjudicated and crossover youth.

4Unique risk factors signal dual involvement for female youthThree or more out of home placements double offending behavior in boys.

ANY out of home placements doubles offending behavior in girls.Girls in DJS out of home placements report experiencing physical or sexual abuse at three times the rate of boys.

90% of girls in DJS out of home placements have high family-related needs. During the first phase of this project, ACY reviewed the literature and researched the issues of dually involved girls, generally.

While dual involvement can occur with any youth, we see that a disproportionately high number of crossover youth are female, especially girls and young women of color, and that particular experiences are likely to increase the chances as to whether a girl is or becomes dually involved.

One of the biggest risk factors for dual involvement (for both boys and girls, but especially for girls) is having an out of home placement in the child welfare system. For instance:National study: 3+ OOH placements doubles offending behavior in boys, ANY out of home placement doubles offending behavior in girls

A second significant risk factor is a prior history of trauma and maltreatment, especially if that is abuse during adolescence. In MD: girls in DJS OOH placement 49% reported histories of physical or sexual abuse, THREE TIMES the rate for males. 90% had high family related needs

While any one risk factor increases the chances of a young woman becoming dually involved, many crossover youth experience multiple risk factors in different areas of their lives.

5Perspectives from Maryland's dually involved female youthInterviewed 20 young women, aged 18 24Histories of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems

?WHAT WERE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM??WHAT WERE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM??HOW CAN WE BETTER SERVE DUALLY INVOLVED GIRLS?After reviewing the literature, ACY continued our research on the issue by working with a MSW to interview 20 young women with histories of involving in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

90% were African American

The pathways and extent of their involvement in the two systems varied, but on average:9.3 years old = first contact w/CW system13.7 years old = first contact w/JJ system

6LISTENING TO OUR STORIES IS THE FIRST STEP.

After reviewing the literature, ACY continued our research into the issues by interviewing 20 young women with prior histories of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

20 girls, aged 18 24, 90% = African American

Pathways and extent of involvement in CW & JJ systems varied, but on average:

9.3 = first contact with the child welfare system

13.7 = first contact with the JJ system

7Perspectives from Maryland's dually involved female youth% WITH MULTIPLE OUT OF HOME PLACEMENTS80 percent% THAT RAN AWAY TO BE W/FRIENDS OR FAMILY50 percent% THAT SELF REPORTED SUBSTANCE ABUSE30 percentThe story you just heard is a pretty good representation of many of the stories we collected.

80% of the girls we interviewed experienced multiple out of home placements, with 9.3 = average placement. This is especially important to consider when we remember that the research shows that ANY out of home placement DOUBLES the likelihood a girl will offend.

30% of girls volunteered information about alcohol or marijuana abuse during their adolescent years. Likely much higher.

50% reported running away from their foster home to be with friends and family.

80% reported recidivism

8WE WANT TO BE HEARD.

Perspectives from Maryland's dually involved female youth% THAT REPORTED MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS55 percent% THAT FELT UNHEARD BY THE ADULTS IN THEIR LIVES70 percent% THAT WANTED INCREASED ACCESS TO SUPPORTIVE SERVICES75 percent70% of young women interviewed felt that their concerns & problems were unheard by the adults in their lives.

75% felt the need for increased access to supportive services. 45% felt they would have been better prepared for the transition into adolescence/adulthood if they had better life skills, financial literacy, and independent living experience.

65% emphasized the importance of social stability, positive peer role model, and/or lasting relationships with their biological familiesSingle most important factor in determining positive outcomes is having one consistent adult/positive relationship when they leave foster care

10Dually involved girls strategy sessionsPARTICIPANTS

Advocates for Children & Youth Staff and Board MembersBaltimore City Public Defenders OfficeBaltimore City School PoliceBaltimore County DSSBaltimore County LMB/DMCCommunity Law in ActionCourt Appointed Special Advocates

The Family LeagueJewish Womens Giving FoundationJuvenile Justice Monitoring UnitMD Assoc. of Resources for Families & Youth MD Department of Juvenile ServicesMD Chap. of the National Assoc. of Social Workers

MD Disability Law CenterMD Foster Youth Resource CenterMD JDAI/DMC Initiative MD Legal Aid BureauMD Police Training CommissionNew LensOctober 14th, October 16th, & December 9th of 2013Collaborative process guided by a variety of stakeholdersIdentify the needs of dually involved girls in MarylandDevelop recommendationsTHANK YOU to Anna Davis who attended, as well as JWGF

18 different organizations.

11recommendationsTRAUMA INFORMED POLICY, PRACTICE, & PROGRAMS

IMPROVE PLACEMENT STABILITYPart of this is promoting permanent relationships many girls ran away from home to be with family or friends. Many felt the need for positive role models.Need to better individualize/match placements often girls get put in more secure settings/are removed from home more than necessary (girls go deeper into the system for lesser offenses than boys)Need to better support the maintenance of positive connections with their families and communities phone calls? Visiting hours? Also, a high number of housing placements often = many school changes. Each school change = 6 months behind

IMPROVING ACCESS TO AGE & GENDER APPROPRIATE SERVICESEspecially early, home-based interventions prevention is important a promising approach = FFT in Baltimore County.Expanded access to wraparound services (i.e. families can self refer, increased eligibility, etc.) Expanding Female Intervention Team (FIT) model to crossover youth/crossover youth team within FIT.

EXPAND CROSS-SYSTEMS COLLABORATIONCrossover Youth Practice ModelUnder 13 Collaborative

IMPROVED DATA COLLECTIONLINKS

INCREASED TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

12VALUE YOUTH VOICE IN ALL PARTS OF THE PROCESS WHATs NEXTWE ARE RESILIENT & YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP ON US.Megan Lucymlucy@acy.org

Melissa Rockmrock@acy.org

A project generously funded by the Abell Foundation & the Jewish Womens Giving Foundation. 8 Market Place, Suite 500Baltimore, Maryland 21202410-547-9200www.acy.org

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