The BIRT Program: Enhancing Ashland County's Juvenile Court and Juvenile Drug Court's Capacity to Treat Substance-Abusing Juveniles More Effectively Through Partnership

Ashland County, the only county in Wisconsin with a juvenile drug court, began a pilot juvenile drug program in 2002. Six years later, the program has expanded and works with 10 to 16 participants at a given time. The drug court has 12 graduates who have successfully completed the intensive year-long program. An expanded program has gathered nearly 3 years of data on the participants and is currently working with an external evaluator.

The Ashland County Juvenile Drug Court will implement the BIRT program with their existing, six year-old interagency Ashland County Juvenile Drug Court team. The BIRT program will enable the drug court team to create a two-track program that will enroll both civil and juvenile criminal offenders into the program. Providers will be trained in MET/CBT 5; offer AODA assessments to juvenile offenders in both civil and criminal court. BIRT will be provided to 135 youthful offenders and case management will be provided to 150 in both the civil and criminal tracks. The team members will have the necessary skill sets and experience to fully implement MET/CBT 5 and to ensure that the participants receive appropriate tracking and aftercare. The project aims to serve between 135 and 150 youth and expects to see declines in re-arrests, recidivism, substance abuse, and related crime; and an increase in school attendance, academic performance, and graduation rates. CA/NCF