NEVADA DIVISION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES
Youth Parole Bureau
The Youth
Parole Bureau provides supervision and case
management services for:
Youth, 12-18 years,
who are committed to DCFS for correctional
and/or mental health care,
Youth under the
age of 12 years, who are committed to DCFS
for correctional care but cannot by law be
placed in a correctional program,
Youth transferred to
Nevada through the Interstate Compact on
Juveniles.
Services provided by Youth Parole Counselors
include Alternative Placement, Specialized
Treatment, Intensive Aftercare, Drug Education
and Counseling, Transitional Community
Integration and Drug Testing.
Interstate Compact on Juveniles
The
Interstate Compact for Juveniles (ICJ),
originally drafted in 1955, is an agreement
among states to track young offenders. The
purpose of the ICJ is to enable states to
provide for: cooperative supervision of juvenile
delinquents on probation or parole; the return
of delinquent juveniles who have escaped or
absconded; the return, from one state to
another, of non-delinquent juveniles who have
run away from home; and additional measures for
the protection of juveniles and the public.
DCFS, through its Youth Parole Bureau, has
administered the ICJ for the past 37 years.
Beginning in 2001, the Council
of State Governments and the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention took on the
challenge of rewriting the outdated compact and
advocating for its passage. Nevada adopted the
compact in 2005, and on August 26, 2008, the
35th state signed legislation signifying the
official launch of the new compact nationwide.
The new ICJ significantly
updates the 53-year-old agreement for tracking
and supervising juveniles who move across state
borders. The new language passed in 45 states to
date, provides enhanced accountability,
enforcement, visibility and communication and
seeks to update a tool for ensuring public
safety as well as preserving child welfare.
An Interstate Commission on the
national level has been established and a new
State Council in Nevada will be created. The
Interstate Commission has powers and
responsibility over ICJ including promulgation
of rules, fiscal responsibility, compliance and
dispute resolution. The National Commission
established new rules at their first annual
meeting in December 2009, which rules became
effective on March 1, 2010.
The number of youth processed in
FY09 and FY10 through the Nevada ICJ Office is
illustrated below. Please see separate charts
for statistics regarding extradition cases, as
well as statistics for supervision cases.
Numbers generally increase each year consistent
with population growth in Nevada and across the
country. With the adoption of new compact it is
hoped a smooth transition will occur allowing
for the continued safety of juveniles and the
public when youth cross state lines.
Re-Entry Program for Serious and Violent
Offenders
The Re-Entry
Program for Serious and Violent Offenders was
implemented in 2003. It is a short-term program
intended to provide youth at high risk of
recidivism with intensive case management
services and daily treatment programming.
Treatment programming may address substance
abuse, life skills, anger management and
vocational skills. Collaboration with Clark
County Department of Juvenile Justice Services
initiated the Re-Entry Court process. This court
process is based on a drug court model with
monthly staffing with youth on their treatment
plan progress to assist the youth in successful
completion of parole. The Judge participates
with recommendations and presents an award to
youth upon successful completion of
requirements. In 2004, the Youth Parole Bureau
was awarded supplemental funds to enhance its
gender specific programming related to this
program. The Re-Entry Program now offers a
program for females age 15-17, who have
experienced mild substance abuse and mental
health issues. Workshops are also available to
most female parolees to assist them to make
better choices for their lives and to gain
greater self-esteem. Curriculum workshop topics
address sexual victimization and exploitation,
addiction, violence, anger management,
alternatives to violence, healthy boundaries,
co-dependency, parenting, distorted thinking,
relapse prevention, employment, job readiness
skills, and preparing for reentry.
Transitional Aftercare Services Pilots
The Youth Parole Bureau launched two Pilot
transitional aftercare services programs in
2004. Utilizing grant funds, the first program
established in March 2004 in the Reno office
piloted the use of an intensive case manager to
provide services using a “wraparound” service
delivery approach. DCFS has successfully
implemented “wraparound” case management with
emotionally disturbed, multi- agency involved
youth in foster care. To date, 12 youth have
been served in this pilot. A second pilot is
highlighted below.
Program Highlight
Intensive Case Management Pilot Program
In
September 2004, the DCFS Youth Parole Bureau in
Las Vegas established a pilot project through a
public/private partnership with Rite of Passage
to provide intensive case management; transition
and aftercare programming for complex needs
youth paroled from the state run juvenile
facilities. The approach of the Pilot program is
family centered, strength based and youth
focused. It addresses an unmet need for juvenile
offenders with complex needs requiring
comprehensive community based services and
proactive, responsive, intense case management.
Families are involved as full partners with the
primary voice in developing the plan and
monitoring service delivery. In their case
management/service coordinator role, the Rite of
Passage staff coordinates services and natural
supports for the child and family accessing
public and private non-profit resources. They
team with the Youth Parole Officer and expand
the services provided to these high need
children and their families.
The target population is
youth who have multiple needs including mental
health conditions, drug and alcohol use and
behavioral challenges. The Pilot shifts from a
traditional parole/probation law enforcement
model toward a more intensive case management
team service delivery model. Twelve youth in the
pilot program were originally committed under
NRS 62E.520. These are youth the court
determined to be in need of placement in a
correctional facility and in need of residential
psychiatric services or other mental health
treatment services.
57 youth have been served since the inception of
the program.
Service
Coordinators are the primary contact person for
the youth and family, and act as a support and
advocate for the family. The Service Coordinator
facilitates Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings
that bring the youth, the parents, community
partners, natural family and community supports
and the Youth Parole Counselor together to make
joint decisions that are in the best interests
of the youth and community. This service
delivery approach is expected to improve
outcomes through:
Increased client contact with two to three
contacts per week. Contacts occur at home,
school and place of employment
Increased parental involvement
Increased monitoring of school attendance
Increased access
to transportation to attend individual and
group counseling appointments, job
interviews and school conferences
Assistance with job preparation and
placement
Incentives based on youth progress
Quality Improvement
A comprehensive plan of
improvement was developed by Youth Parole staff
to address organizational and professional
competence as well as improve service delivery.
Areas addressed included:
Increasing effective communication,
Standardizing
statewide policy and practice,
Outlining steps to
an improved service delivery including
development of an aftercare pilot,
Reconciling
current and archival data in the Information
System,
Identifying
activities to better address the limited
English proficiency needs of youth and
families,
Enhancing the
assessment and placement process through
staff training and eliminating duplicative
business processes.
