White Earth Juvenile Wellness Court Project

Under the authority bestowed by 42 U.S.C. Section 3796ee-1, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) made under its Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants (Tribal JADG) Program to federally recognized tribal communities to develop and implement programs that hold AI/AN youth accountable for delinquent behavior and strengthen tribal juvenile justice systems. For the purposes of this program, 'juvenile' refers to youth ages 17 and younger. Federally recognized tribes may use program funds to address 1 or more of the 17 Tribal JADG Program's purpose areas.

The White Earth Reservation is a federally recognized tribe in northwest Minnesota. The Tribe consists of approximately 19,629 enrolled tribal members. Of those, 4,029 tribal members actually live on the Reservation and approximately 33% of which are children. The tribe seeks to serve a minimum of 60 juveniles per year, ages 8-17. The project addresses purpose area 3 (promote the effective and expeditious administration of the juvenile justice system), area 6, by providing training for the court and the police department, and area 12 (establishing and maintaining programs to conduct risk and needs assessments that facilitate effective early intervention and the provision of comprehensive services).

The goals of the project are to: 1) strengthen the White Earth Reservation juvenile justice system though increasing the number of hours the Associate Judge will perform in the tribal court, 2) reduce juvenile delinquency and truancy cases by implementing a culturally relevant Juvenile Wellness Court on the Reservation, reduce Juvenile delinquent behavior on the Reservation by conducting risk and needs assessments (substance abuse and mental health) on all juveniles entering the tribal court for truancy offences to identify appropriate referral needs, and 3) provide truant juveniles on the Reservation with an opportunity to participate in the Good Path Program (which is a model that integrates various cultural components of Anishinaabe life based upon values and beliefs according to seven teachings).

The White Earth Reservation Juvenile Wellness Project will maintain monthly reports tracking graduated sanctions, number of youth completing program requirements, number of youth with whom an evidence based approach is used and number of youth who reoffend along with the amount of funds awarded for system improvement. CA/NCF