Supportive Effective Interventions for Adolescent Sex Offenders and Children With Sexual Behavior Problems.

This program aligns with the Department’s priorities to combat victimization and enhance public safety. This solicitation provides funding to develop intervention and supervision services for adolescent sex offenders and children with sexual behavior problems, and to provide treatment services for their victims and families/caregivers. This program is authorized by Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2020, Pub. L. No. 116–93; 133 Stat. 2317, 2410.

The goal and purpose of this project is for Crown Counseling to provide further services to youth who sexually offend, children with problematic sexual behaviors (PSB), and their nonoffending family members. This will take the form of individual therapy for victims and multiple weekly therapeutic groups. Groups will consist of 13- to 17-year-olds who sexually offend, 8- to 12-year-olds who exhibit PSB, and nonoffending parents or guardians of these clients. The main goal of these services will be to provide psychoeducation to help promote prevention or reduction of offending or problematic behaviors to impact public safety.

Crown Counseling will use trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy as the main curriculum for groups with Functional Family Therapy for further family support. In order to study the effect of the groups, there will also be pre- and post-test surveys for the client and family groups. These surveys will gather data about the success of the groups and the level of knowledge, confidence, and skills gained by the clients and their families. They will also measure the level of problematic behaviors the clients are exhibiting at the end of group; the clients should exhibit either a reduction or elimination of sexual offending or PSB. The parents should leave having gained more knowledge and coping skills, feel more confident in their parenting skills, and understand how to support their adolescent or child appropriately.

Crown Counseling has an extensive multidisciplinary team that consists of the Indiana Department of Child and Family Services, Lake County Juvenile Probation, Lake County Juvenile Court, Lake County Juvenile Detention Center, multiple school districts covering all grade levels, Lake County CASA, and the Lake County sheriff. Crown Counseling has worked with these organizations and officers for 11 years to provide individual, group, and assessment services. This program would benefit all of these organizations in Lake County as well as surrounding counties. CA/NCF