Roadmap to System Excellence

Transcription

1 Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Town Hall Meeting Report Roadmap to System Excellence Orlando December 3, :00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Introduction The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is holding a series of Town Hall meetings at 12 locations around the state to obtain feedback and answer questions regarding its reform efforts and specifically its Roadmap to System Excellence. Location Criminal Justice Institute Valencia College 8600 Valencia College Lane Orlando, FL Agenda 6:00 Welcome 6:15 Opening Speaker Jeff Goltz, Director Criminal Justice Institute, Valencia College Wansley Walters, Secretary and Alex Kelly, Chief of Staff, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice 6:30 Questions and Comments Audience Members 8:00 Adjourn Page 1

2 Easel Data Points Page 2

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7 Handouts Roadmap To System Excellence o Executive Summary o One-pager o Brochure Data Chart Statewide Data Chart Local Searchable Data on the Internet FJJF Brochure Civil Citation Brochure Program with Evaluation/Comment Card Press/Editorial Board Packet Roadmap To System Excellence One-pager Data Chart Statewide Data Chart Local Press Release Speaker Comments & Questions Dennis Hannay (DJJ) wanted to know why the goal of reducing recidivism by 5% is not a higher percentage. Julian Robb (Orange County Juvenile Justice Council Chairman) commended local and DJJ leadership on their collaboration on alternatives to complete community service hours. Stan Morris (Mentoring Organization) stated, This is a powerful step you are taking! and that to reach kids, trust has to be a component. Rosalyn Gentry (Executive Director of The Destiny Targeted Case Management Unit and a former attorney representing youth) asked at what point is DJJ going to hold parents accountable, what are we doing to deal with younger kids, and how we are going to provide help to parents. She also mentioned that she is hopeful because we are moving in a positive direction. Page 7

8 Speaker Comments & Questions continued Christine Stillwell (Informed Families) stressed that we must equip families to understand what their kids are doing and the consequences of their actions. She then invited Denise (mom) to describe what happened to her son who became addicted to Spice. Yvette Acosta MacMillan (Regional Council of ACLU) wanted to know what DJJ is doing divert youth from felony convictions, to help youth overcome addictions, and to keep youth out of solitary confinement. She also would like to see higher goals for Civil Citation. Jessica Abel (Juvenile Justice Center) said this is a great first step, especially lowering secure detention and residential commitment and providing community-based alternatives. Major Patty Wells (Sheriff s Office) expressed that the community needs to understand that civil citation works. Barbara Glass (Legal Advocacy Services Attorney) would like to see higher front end goals and is concerned about overrepresentation of disabled youth. She encourages SRO training, multi-disciplinary staffings, and reduced VOPs. Marvin Ferrell (unknown) is concerned about services for youth transitioning out of residential and sealing youth records. Dan Toffoli (AMI Kids) asked us to keep the communication going and provide professional development for our staff. He also encourages us to provide coaching and support to get family buy-in. Dr. Frank Thompson (pastor) wants a specific faith-based plan and feels parents are the key to helping our youth. Page 8

9 Speaker Comments & Questions continued David Utter (Southern Poverty Law Center) is glad to see the Roadmap is based on research and data and stated there are ways to hold youth accountable without putting them in jail and making them worse off. He said that the deeper youth go in our system, the worse their chances for success are. He also expressed a need for law enforcement and community support. Dee Rosado-Chan (PACE Executive Director) would like to see more gender responsive services mentioned in the Roadmap and expressed concer about low risk, high need girls being detained for less serious offenses. Toni Washington-Shinn (My Rules My Reality - Community Advocate for Girls) spoke about her PURPLE program and wanted to know if there is a community resource guide and how to get involved in the State Advisory Group. Rose Washington (Community Champion) was concerned about the disproportionate minority contact in her community and wanted specific data and ways to get more involved. Stan Morris (Mentoring Organization) (again) encouraged community members to go to the detention centers and interact with the kids. Page 9

10 Statistics 123 Attendees o On-line registrants (non-speakers): o Site registrants (non-speakers): Speakers o On-line registrants:... 5 o Site registrants: evaluations completed Evaluation Summary 1. How did you learn about this meeting? 0 = News media 0 = Online 1 = Friend 26 = Work 4 = Invitation 3 = Multiple selections 0 = Other 1 = No answer 2. I attended as a: 29 = Juvenile justice professional, such as DJJ staff, court representative, program provider, FDLE, etc. 0 = Parent/Guardian/Family member. 2 = Community member. 0 = Youth. Page 10

11 2. Why did you attend? Work with DJJ youth. To learn more about the Roadmap and the community's response to it. To support the efforts of DJJ in obtaining/creating our system of excellence vision/mission. Interested in hearing public opinions and hear what added need may be. To receive information/direction from the Secretary of DJJ herself. To hear about DJJ future plans, ideas to better serve this population of children and their families. Learn more about plans for DJJ, especially for crossover youth with child welfare. To learn about what is happening new in helping our youth. Required. To learn more about the roadmap to system to success. To evaluate my organization about DJJ partnerships and how we can work together to empower our youth. To get information to share with co-workers and staff. To bring back info to my community agencies. To support the vision. Local law enforcement, Orlando Police Department. Work related. Support roadmap to encourage higher goals. To see the DJJ plan to address mental health kinds of issues. For helpful info in order to do my job to the best of my ability. Work related. FL Conf. United Methodist Church prison staff liaison. To become more informed. Work. Instructed to attend. Because I care. To gain information as a program provider. I wanted to show my support and hear community feedback. For information and community connections. Work related as a LEO. Information, Networking, building partnerships. Interested in the Roadmap. Program Director of youth advocacy/mentoring program YAP, Inc. Org. Want to stay informed - live here and work for provider agency and partner with several others. Of the 57 respondents: 16 specifically said they wanted to learn more. 5 were there in a supportive role. 11 mentioned it was relative to their jobs. 1 mentioned wanting to hear public opinion. Page 11

12 4. Do you know more about Florida Department of Juvenile Justice s (DJJ) plans after attending? 21 = Yes 5 = Maybe 1 = No 8 = No answer 5. On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely), how confident are you in the following juvenile justice partners? (Averages) 3.9 = DJJ 3.9 = Law enforcement 3.6 = Schools and school resource officers 3.2 = Court system 3.7 = Community resources 3.7 = Service providers Page 12

13 6. Did you learn or share what you needed to during the meeting? 21 = Yes 4 = Maybe 3 = No 7 = No answer 7. The length of the meeting was: 1 = Too short 29 = Just right 4 = Too long 1 = No answer 8. On a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), how would you rate this meeting? 1 = 1 1 = 2 8 = 3 11 = 4 12 = 5 Page 13

14 9. Would you participate in future meetings, such as this, hosted by DJJ? 32 = Yes 2 = Maybe 1 = No 0 = No answer Additional Comments Secretary Walters, I commend you for the work you have done and are doing. Your passion shows! Hope you stay with us a long time! Thank you. C7 is implementing a prevention multi-agency staffing team to receive referrals from the school district and foster care group home regarding behavior issues of youth prior to them escalating to delinquency charges. The staffing team assesses the situations, works with the school, parents, youth and community resources to address the individual needs of youth. I don't think there was enough adequate discussion/questions about the parental involvement (parents roles and responsibilities) for their delinquent behaviors. In many homes, parents are absent even though they might live in home. Many of these parents are dealing with their own issues (criminal, substance, mental health) and are not interested in what is going on with their child. Most of the children (and their families) are or have been involved with other systems (DCF, mental health), parents often refuse services or participate minimally, to no effective change. Thank you for offering this forum to share with the local community the future of DJJ. I am sincerely interested in learning more about the plans around transitional services for youth exiting DJJ who cannot return home. I am specifically interested in the crossover population of youth who turns 18 in DJJ facilities/commitment programs who are also involved in the foster care system. There is a tremendous gap in services, employment assistance, and transitional housing opportunities for youth aging out of foster care with DJJ involvement and/or mental health needs. My organization-the Destiny TCM Corp-is poised to assist with helping our youth to be success stories and not statistical stories of failure. rosalyngentry@thesdestinytcmcorp.com I would like to be involved in developing parental involvement/support/accountability programs that increase our youth success. Please get the school system involved. Page 14

15 Speaking for the Orlando Police Department. We have enjoyed a positive working relationship with DJJ over the past several years. In fact, we have partnered with DJJ on several "clean up" projects whereby we have utilized juveniles who owe community service hours to help clean and spruce up Orlando neighborhoods, such as the downtown area and Parramore. The partnerships involved members of local DJJ, Keep Orlando Beautiful, and the Orlando Police Department, and proved to be extremely beneficial for all involved parties. If memory serves me, Barbara McNeally was my contact. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime. Deputy Chief Robert C. Pigman, Orlando Police Department, or robert.pigman@cityoforlando.net This forum was very informative.really glad that I attended. So excited to hear you talk about wraparound process. As you may know there are 4 local grant sites in Florida promoting and practicing wraparound (Seminole, Jacksonville, Orange, and Miami) as well as 3 graduated sites and a state-wide initiative. Strong evaluation teams, dedicated teams of parents, youth, and professionals can assure successful implementation of additional wraparound teams allowing grant resources to build capacity of broad array of services in each community. Please strongly consider promoting wraparound. Thank you for this opportunity. These are some of my concerns: 1. Indiscriminate use of shackles on juveniles 2. Too many dog bite injuries seen on non-resident youth (from police dogs) 3. Need 24 hour nurses in detention 4. Many youth are released to DCF but may wait for days to be picked up 5. Too many youth waiting a long time in detention for program placement. 6. Need more nurse-family partnership programs. Thank you. Need to bring the mic to the speaker. Volume was too low on power point presenter. Page 15