Posted 1:23 am Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Juvenile Services Save County Big Bucks while saving Youth
By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Smith County Juvenile Services reported savings of more than $1 million by rehabilitating juvenile offenders rather than placing them in out-of-home placement centers.
According to the Juvenile Services year-end report, the county saved $1,021,145 by sending nonviolent juvenile offenders through the Substance Abuse Program (SAP) and the Sex Offender Program (SOP) instead of using outside facilities. The programs included intensive personal and family counseling and are designed to decrease the number of repeat offenses, Chief Probation Officer Nelson Downing said.
"We started the programs hoping to provide better, more successful services for the kids and keep families together," he said. "We ended up doing that and saving a bunch of money."
Juvenile Services deals with juvenile offenders ages 10 to 17 and places them in either detention centers or on probation depending on the offense.
For serious offenses, juveniles are sent to outside centers or the Texas Youth Commission, but the county provides behavioral, drug abuse and sex offense treatment that out-of-home centers provide for offenders who don't belong in detention environments, Downing said.
Downing said out-of-home placement centers, where juvenile offenders would be placed otherwise, are expensive, separate the child from family and may not address the true problem. He said by working with the juvenile in-house, staff can monitor case-by-case circumstances with law enforcement and the district attorney's office and interact with the child's family for and better understand individual needs.
Downing said interaction to address the environment the child is within, whether it is family or friends, drastically improves the program and the child's ability to receive the correct rehabilitation.
The average per year cost for out-of-home placement centers is more than $11,000 per juvenile. In 2008, the county enrolled 80 of 118 juveniles charged with drug offenses into the SAP program saving the county $741,000.
Downing said the programs have been in the works for three years and have been tweaked to improve services and successful rehabilitation. One of those tweaks included hiring a licensed chemical dependency counselor and certifying him as a probation officer, giving the county the ability to confront substance abuse in-house and within the child's environment.
"If we send them to a placement center or TYC, they may come back worse off or get right back into the same environment and you've wasted all that time," he said. "We provide help to the family as well, dealing with mothers and fathers, siblings and (the offender's) associations, so they don't fall back into the behavior."
Juvenile attorney Sara Maynard agrees that keeping and treating children without sending them away and working with parents increases the odds that behaviors will be corrected.
Mrs. Maynard said offenders in the SOP may scare people, but that addressing sex offenses when the child is young reduces the likelihood of future offenses. She also said many juvenile cases deal more with the child experimenting and is not predatorial as it is in adult cases.
She said, recidivism rates are high within adult sex offenders, but rates among juveniles that receive the proper treatment are about 17 percent.
Successful rehabilitation as a child results in fewer law enforcement problems as an adult, she said, in regard to sexual offenses, substance abuse and behavioral problems.
"It's so effective at nipping the problem in the bud," she said.
Downing agrees and said the number of juveniles in detention have decreased to its lowest point in 10 years. From 1998 to 2008, the number of juveniles in detention centers reduced from 660 to 370, respectively, Downing said.
Downing said multiple programs have factored into those numbers, but that it is his staff of 80 compassionate individuals committed to helping people especially young people represent the glue that holds the programs together.
County Judge Joel Baker serves as the chairman of the Juvenile Board, which includes the county's justices and supervises the juvenile system, said the programs better serve each child individually.
"The kids are getting better treatment for less money," Baker said. "These programs not only target the individual's problems, but deal with their family as well so that they will have a strong support group, and a better chance of not becoming a repeat offender."
Downing said that is the goal of everyone involved and that saving $1 million of taxpayer money is icing on the cake.
"The programs change their attitudes and behavior," he said. "Our goal is to never see these kids again once they get out of here."
