Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $526,443)
The OJJDP FY 2014 Enhancements to Juvenile Drug Courts solicitation provides funding for currently operating juvenile drug courts to enhance capacity and services. A juvenile drug court provides comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, community-based services for youth who are younger than 18 years old and come in contact with the juvenile justice system due to alcohol or other drug use. The goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of juvenile drug courts and ultimately improve the outcome for the youth involved in the juvenile drug court program. Enhancements to juvenile drug courts will focus on one or more of the following key components of a juvenile drug court: (1) increase the use of scientifically based screening and assessment procedures for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system to identify youth in need of mental health and substance abuse services; (2) expand the range of developmentally appropriate and evidence-based programs and services to ensure a continuum of care is available for these youth; (3) enhance or develop family engagement; and/or (4) expand the outcome monitoring of the juvenile drug court.
The King County Juvenile Drug Court (JDC) will utilize grant funding to provide evidence-based interventions that have demonstrated efficiency for youth with co-occurring disorders. The grant is expected to increase pre/post treatment attendance and completion; increase education/work attendance; decrease family problems; decrease substance use and mental health symptoms; strengthen the recovery environment; and decrease recidivism and time spent in detention. The purpose of this enhancement project will be to improve the outcomes for JDC youth, primarily youth of color, who have a substance use disorder and are diagnosed with high severity co-occurring mental health disorders. The target population is youth enrolled in the JDC ages 12 to 17 and their defined family networks. The project will serve fifteen King County youth with co-occurring substance abuse and mental illness per year, a total of 45 youth over the life of the project. Funding will be used to hire a Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) therapist, Family Integrated Transitions (FIT) Therapist, a Psychiatrist for consultation/ medication management and an Ethnic Specific Family Engagement Specialist (ESFES) to join the JDC team. The services will be family centered, community based and focus on interactions between participants and their environments.
CA/NCF