Brief Interventions and Referrals to Treatment for Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Drug Courts

The State Attorney's Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, in collaborative partnership with Gateway Community Services, River Region Human Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Public Defender's Office and Duval County Juvenile Drug Court Program (which began operation in 1997), proposes to utilize the Brief Interventions and Referrals to Treatment (BIRT) Program to enhance the community's effort to reduce substance abuse among youth in Duval County. The BIRT Program will implement a process to ensure that substance abusing juvenile offenders are screened, assessed and receive MET/CBT 5 or referrals to juvenile drug court or other appropriate treatment. BIRT services will be provided to youth between the ages of 12 to 18 years of age, who acknowledge substance use through personal admission or urine toxicology screens, and who do not meet criteria for dependence. In an effort to ensure that substance abusing juvenile offenders receive effective and appropriate treatment, the following objectives have been identified: screen and identify substance abusing youth in the juvenile justice system, provide eligible youth with BIRT (MET/CBT5), and refer others to appropriate treatment.

Performance measures will assess the strengths, milestones and opportunities in (a) reducing substance abuse; (b) increasing the number of participants entering and successfully completing MET/CBT5; and (c) increasing the number of participants who demonstrate improved outcomes, such as increased school attendance, increased functioning and decreased illegal activity.
CA/NCF