Cynthia K. Stoltz, Esq. Administrator Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Children’s Court 440 Ross Street, Suite 5000 Pittsburgh, ,PA 15219 Phone: 412-350-0377 Cynthia.Stoltz@alleghenycourts.us
Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania • 745 square miles • Population 1.23 million
Fifth Judicial District Family Court
Allegheny County Family Court • Adult Section • Divorce • Child and Spousal Support • Juvenile Probation • Juvenile Delinquency • Act 53 Cases • Children’s Court • Domestic Violence • Child Custody • Child Protection and Permanency (Dependency, TPR, Adoptions) • Bypass Cases
A snapshot of Allegheny County Family Court 15 Judges 2 Senior Judges 3 State Court Administrators 8 Deputy and Assistant Administrators 1 HR Administrators 8 Child Support Hearing officer 1 Partial Custody Hearing Officer 1 Delinquency Hearing Officer 3 Dependency Hearing Officers 3 Special Masters 5
Who are the cross over youth? Allegheny County 2015 • 4% of all JPO cases dually adjudicated • 13% of all JPO cases also active with CYF • For every 23 youth under supervision, crossover youth • 15% of all CYF youth age 10 and over active with JPO 6
Who were the youth in care? TEENS CONSISTENTLY REPRESENT ~ 40% OF THE 2,000 IN-CARE Children & Youth in Allegheny County CYF Placement as 1,800 POPULATION of Feb 25 1,600 1,400 1,200 12+ YEARS 1,000 6-11 YEARS 800 0-5 YEARS 600 400 200 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The nu number of of teens in in car are decreased… 1,000 Youth Aged 12+ in Allegheny County CYF Placement 900 800 700 600 OTHER SETTING CONGREGATE CARE 500 FAMILY FOSTER CARE 400 KINSHIP CARE 300 200 100 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
… but th the percentage of of teens in in con ongregate car are in incre reased. 120.0% 100.0% 29.4% 80.0% 31.0% 35.7% 38.1% 36.8% 36.0% OTHER SETTING CONGREGATE CARE 60.0% FAMILY FOSTER CARE 40.0% KINSHIP CARE 20.0% 0.0% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Comparisons 60% Use of Congregate Care Settings for Teens in Foster Care For 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Detroit Philadelphia Pittsburgh Cleveland Chicago NYC DC Baltimore
The e Fou oundation Core Leadership Team Implementation Team Prevention Data Education Disproportionality Guiding Coalition of over 100 Community Leaders Memorandum of Understanding & Protocols
Engaging Community Partners • WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? • WHY SHOULD COURTS ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY? • WHAT DOES ENGAGEMENT LOOK LIKE? • EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL ENGAGEMENT
What is community engagement ? • Community: the body of stakeholders within the Court's substantive and geographic domain, who impact and are impacted by the Court's activities. • stakeholders includes litigants, legal systems (DAs, PDs, guardians, private bar, etc.) service providers, legislative and executive representatives, community leaders from education, medical and behavioral health organizations, foundations, corporations and yes, the media.
Why should courts engage?? • It is part of Court’s responsibility -- a central purpose of the Court is to build public trust and confidence. • An informed, engaged community can help weather the storms.. • Increases the Court's circle of friends • Enhances ability to anticipate and solve problems • Adds capacity for creativity
What does successful engagement look like? • A clear strategy for community outreach, with a broad vision and well articulated goals and objectives. • Commitment to providing information the Court believes the public needs, and receiving information from constituents about perceived needs. • Deep understanding of the individuals & organizations involved.
Allegheny County Children’s Court Roundtable – Organizational Structure Convened by the Court and in partnership with Children, Youth and Families Annual ACCR Quarterly ACCR Workgroup Members (April) ACCR (monthly) Convened by Co-chaired by the Relevant Administrative Administrative Stakeholders Judge, Judge and co- and experts Children’s chaired with necessary to Court the Children's address Administrator Court specific topic and DHS Administrator areas Director and DHS Director
Allegheny County Children’s Court Roundtable - Workgroups • Educational Success & Truancy Prevention • Cross-Over Youth • Family Violence • Older Youth • Children of Incarcerated Parents/Engaging Fathers • Addiction and Treatment Issues • Best Practices Team • Legislation, Rules and Regulations • Focus on Trauma
Children’s Roundtable Cross Over Youth Team: Community Leader Coalition to reduce cross over, improve outcomes • Judicially lead, collaboratively driven agenda • Engaged community stakeholders and embraced public/private partnerships to • Drive systems change • Weather the storms, overcome obstacles • Expand court resources • Designated to guide the CYPM implementation
Define the need, tell the story…
Secure Community Champions • Articulate the need for a community response – without a sense of urgency, and therefore no allocation of resources from government sources, a creative partnership was necessary • Propose a solution – ie. leverage private dollars to fund judicial officers to ‘move’ the backlog. Savings resulting from permanency for children ‘reinvested’ to cover costs. With CYPM, leveraged private dollars to implement and sustain the model.
The e Fou oundation Core Leadership Team Implementation Team Prevention Data Education Disproportionality Guiding Coalition of over 100 Community Leaders Memorandum of Understanding & Protocols
Implementation Plan Core Leadership Team Convene a Guiding Coalition of Community Leaders Commission a team of experts: Georgetown Fellows Confer with others: Site Visits Create an Implementation Team, infrastructure Prevention – Georgetown Capstone Project Education Data Disproportionality Craft a Memorandum of Understanding & Protocols Build Competencies: individualized and cross systems training Communication Plan Compile data, use to evaluate efforts, drive decisions
Memorandum Of Understanding The purpose of this MOU is to acknowledge the shared vision and commitment of JPO and CYF to respond to the needs of and improve the outcomes for youth who have contact with both agencies.
MOU Commitment Involves: 1. Development of a coordinated and collaborative practice, using evidence-based, data-driven policies and procedures 2. Acknowledging and respecting the differences in the agencies’ service missions 3. Facilitating communication and collaboration by Improving inter- agency data and information sharing 4. Intentional and meaningful involvement of youth and families in case planning, with an emphasis on family strengths
MOU Commitment Involves: 5. Consistent use of partnerships involving JPO, CYF, education, behavioral health and other community partners in meeting the range of needs experienced by crossover youth 6. Ensuring that out-of-home placements are the least restrictive placement available to meet the treatment, supervision, rehabilitation and well being needs of dually adjudicated youth while providing for the protection of the public 7. Targeting of practices designed to reduce the number of youth who cross over from one system to the other and to reduce re-entry in both systems
MOU Commitment Involves: 8. Addressing disproportionality and disparity through practices that ensure cultural competency and equitable treatment 9. Adopting performance and quality assurance measures 10.Development of cross system training which is trauma- informed
Build Competencies • Engage experts: Georgetown University CJJR, NCJFCJ, others • Develop a comprehensive plan for ongoing training individually and together with: • Caseworkers, JPOs, judges, administrators, attorney systems stakeholders, community champions
Communication is key • Develop an Action Plan and follow it! • Communicate regularly with community partners • Seek input • Provide updates • Document accomplishments
Compile data, evaluate efforts • CJJR pre-post implementation data • Weekly automated reports to systems leaders • Trends reports, predictive analysis • Data dashboards – live stream
O n the horizon…… • The court experience for youth and families is overwhelming, and often times confusing. Going to court can be traumatic for youth and families who have already experienced a number of traumas, and exacerbate negative feelings.
Creative Partnership
Human Centered Design • A creative approach to problem solving that starts with the people you’re designing for and….. • ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs (IDEO.ORG)
Key takeaways: • Develop core judicial leadership • Cultivate relationships • Identify community champions • Be creative • Leverage expertise • Gentle pressure relentlessly applied • Never give up
Recommend
More recommend
