Tso-Tsi-Ge-Yu-HI-Di-Ni-Ya-Tli (We care deeply for the children)

The Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity for Juvenile Drug Courts Program (here after referred to as the CSAT/OJJDP Juvenile Drug Court Program) supports programs to enhance and expand substance abuse treatment capacity for juvenile drug courts. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) issued a joint solicitation for the FY 2009 CSAT/OJJDP Juvenile Drug Court Program. The purpose of the program is to enhance the capacity of existing juvenile drug courts to serve substance-abusing juvenile offenders through the integration and implementation of the Juvenile Drug Court: Strategies in Practice and the Reclaiming Futures program models. CSAT will provide funding for the treatment component of the program and OJJDP will provide funding for the operation of the juvenile drug court component.

The Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized tribe in the State of Oklahoma is making application for a combination Drug Court and Treatment Center to serve adolescents from the ages of 12 ' 17 in four counties within the tribal jurisdictional area. The program will serve 125 minimum to 140 maximum throughout the four year period with 90 to hundred clients who are retained 90 days or longer in a service plan. Both the adolescent drug court and the treatment center are operated by the tribe. The goals of the program are to improve the assessment process; increase numbers of clients and graduates; improve therapy processes; expand cultural activities and skills. The program will: 1) Certify four staff in GAIN in the first year; 2) Certify four staff in A-CRA and ACC; 3) Insure that the program follows the Six Stages of Reclaiming Futures and the Key Elements of a Juvenile Drug Court; 4) Fully integrate the designated models and institutionalize the processes through cross training; 5) Develop and train in written Cherokee culture protocols for modeling in youth interaction; 6) Add a sweat lodge for bi-weekly use as a therapeutic tool; 7) All staff not certified will attend the cultural competency training for certification; 8) Court will build partners with state district courts evidenced through negotiation of new MOU's each year; 9) Use tribal training events for community leaders and organizations to promote the drug court and stimulate involvement; and10) switch therapy and therapeutic group responsibility to the juvenile treatment center to increase response speed and quality. The tribe will serve 15 long term and 10 short term clients during the first year; 20 long term and 10 short term during the second year; 25 long term and 5 short term in the third year, and 30 long term and 5 short term in the fourth year. An evaluation team will collect data to measure program participation and completion, recidivism, school attendance and academic achievement. In addition to providing training and technical assistance, CSAT will conduct a formal evaluation of the treatment component. CA/NCF