Reinvesting Resources in the Community: Reimagining Juvenile Justice in Maryland

Through this project, the Maryland Department of Juvenile Service (DJS) will invest in Maryland communities most impacted by the legal and child welfare systems to bolster community wellbeing. To do this, they will build a multi-agency and community partnership framework to invest resources in non-institutional, locally-driven strategies to improve safety and help communities thrive, strategies co-designed with, and informed by, youth and families. DJS will engage in a decision-making process jointly with communities to make deeper investments in community based services that will serve Maryland’s young people more effectively. 

DJS plans to partner with an outside research institution to conduct a statewide assessment of the service array, complete with recommendations on opportunities to fill gaps. Additionally, we will work with the partner to develop a tool that can be used to maintain this information over time, so rather than having a static point-in-time report, we can create a living resource to reflect what services and supports DJS has access to utilize with the youth under our supervision.

Through work with an internal working group focused on better serving girls and gender expansive young people in our care it was determined that there is a need for staff to be provided with gender specific training on how best to work with this population. As such, DJS will use additional funds from this grant to procure the outside support, thereby bolstering our continuum work as it pertains to gender-responsive supports.