Juvenile Drug Court Mentoring and Support Services Initiative

The goal of the Juvenile Drug Courts Mentoring and Support Services Initiative is to build the capacity of states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and tribal governments to enhance juvenile drug courts by developing and establishing a comprehensive support service initiative that would include mentoring and other appropriate support services (i.e., educational services, health services, employment services, community services, recreational activities, parenting programs, housing assistance) to serve substance-abusing youth who are assigned to the juvenile drug court program. This program is authorized under 42 U.S.C. 3797u.

The project will focus on the pro-social, positive affiliation and role model needs of adolescents who are enrolled in the Juvenile Drug Court (JDC) in St. Mary's County, Maryland. A total of 45 adolescents across the 3 year project period will receive the proposed enhanced services. The program will utilize the expertise and partnership of existing mentoring programs in the community to develop and launch program-specific mentoring and support services for the highest-risk members of the target population. In addition to the Juvenile Drug Court of St. Mary's County, substance abuse program provider Walden Sierra, the St. Mary's County Public Schools FLOW Mentoring program, and the St. Mary's County Big Brothers and Big Sisters program are committed to the project. Mentoring services will be developed in two tracks, appropriate to the divergent needs of traditional day school students and non-traditional students. The proposed program is evidence/best-practice based, incorporating a Recovery Oriented System of Care and Asset Development approach.

CA/NCF