Brown County Juvenile Treatment Court

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 Brown County Juvenile Treatment Court (BCJTC) represents a non-traditional approach for juvenile offenders who suffer a substance abuse disorder. BCJTC is built upon a unique partnership between the criminal justice system and the mental health/substance abuse community, where specific treatment intervention is structured around frequent hearings with a single BCJTC Judge. The purpose of the proposed work is to improve the current BCJTC to include professional mentoring services and co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. BCJTC will be a multi-County venture serving the Counties of Brown and Nicollet, in South-Central Minnesota. They anticipate serving 15-20 youth per year, or 39-52 individuals (including families), and 45-60 youth, or 117-156 throughout the three years of funding. Brown County proposes to provide mentoring service for all participants by hiring a .75 FTE mentor. The mentor will meet with the participants and their families and develop goals, objectives and timelines to assist the participant's live a sober and law-abiding lifestyle. Goals include educational and career planning, employment services, sober and healthy recreational activities and future planning. The BCJTC/WrapAround teams will monitor progress towards goals at all team meetings. The evaluation schedule shall include quarterly reports, yearly reports, and on-going comprehensive output and outcome summary reports. CA/NCF