Fort Belknap Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court

The Justice Department's grant-making components have created a streamlined approach for federally recognized Tribes, Tribal consortia, Alaska Native villages and corporations, as well as authorized tribal designees to apply for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 funding opportunities. The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) serves as a single solicitation for existing tribal government-specific grant programs administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The CTAS solicitation is designed to assist tribes with addressing crime and public safety issues in a comprehensive manner. The CTAS grant-application process was inspired by and developed after consultation with tribal leaders, including sessions at the Justice Department's Tribal Nations Listening Session in 2009, and has been updated based on continued tribal consultations and listening sessions. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides awards under CTAS Purpose Area 8--Juvenile Healing to Wellness Courts. The overall goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of tribal courts to respond to the alcohol-related issues of youth under the age of 21. This can include the development of a new juvenile healing to wellness court or enhancements to an existing tribal healing to wellness court.

The Fort Belknap Court system is experiencing marked increases in drug- and alcohol-related offenses, vandalism and gang-related activity, disorderly conduct, theft, and violent crime. There are currently 117 juvenile probationers, 56 female and 61 male at Fort Belknap. The Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court Project CTAS PA #8 will bring together stakeholders (community & parents) across the systems serving adolescents and transitional aged youth to undertake a gap analysis (e.g., Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) which will help the Fort Belknap Indian Community Court determine priorities for the implementation plans to be developed such as identifying gaps, establish and provided improved client assessments, interventions, Performance Based Practice treatments, counseling, identification of financial resources, hire, train staff and parents. This Tribal Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court Program will enable the Fort Belknap Community to address drug and/or alcohol cases involving youth under the age of 21 (Violent Offenders Not Included) as an alternative to incarceration and as a tool against the debilitating effects of alcohol and drugs on our young people on our Fort Belknap Indian Reservations. The overall goal of the Fort Belknap Tribal Healing to Wellness Court is the healing of individuals, families and communities by directing participant in a traditional healing journey. Wellness courts promote recovery through a coordinated community effort. The Fort Belknap Court Planning Coordinator will be responsible to develop the Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court Plan with assistance from the CTAS Project Advisory Board that will include Traditional Tribal Cultural Educators of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Nations.

CA/NCF