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Youth Intervention Services
Purpose
The purpose of the Youth Intervention Services Activity is to provide screenings, assessments, case management, mentoring and life skills training, along with victim apology, restitution and restorative justice processes to court-referred youth so they can become better functioning individuals and have no further negative involvement within the justice system.
Programs
Youth intervention services include:
- Juvenile diversion
- SB94
- Plus mentoring
- Wraparound
- Restorative Justice
In all programs, a focus on the family system and collaborating with other community agencies to wrap services around the youth and family is a priority.
Juvenile Diversion
The Juvenile Diversion Program is designed to divert youth from involvement in the juvenile justice system. Referrals to the program are typically first-time non-violent offenses that the district attorney has determined as appropriate.
Accountability and responsibility for the youth's actions is emphasized and skill building is supported or enhanced in areas such as decision making, refusal skills, and understanding laws.
Requirements
The program requirements include restitution and apology to victims, community service, various screenings and assessments for additional needed resources, counseling, and behavior compliance. When a youth completes the program, the district attorney will dismiss the case and no legal charges are filed and no court records remain.
SB94
Additional services are found through the SB94 program, the highest level of youth intervention. The goal of SB94 is to provide various resources to youth and their families to assist in keeping youth out of detention and commitment facilities.
Services
- 24/7 intake screening
- Case management
- Youth restitution work crew
- Others as needed
Plus Mentoring
Plus mentoring is a community based service that matches youth at-risk of out-of-home placement or involved in the juvenile justice system or other identified needs with a mentor.
The mentoring program provides a structured relationship that focuses on the needs of the youth and works towards mutually agreed upon goals with an emphasis on learning life skills.
Wraparound
The wraparound process is a team-based activity that helps groups of people involved in your family's life work together toward a common goal.
The family chosen team creates a plan that includes ways to assure that children / youth and their families can experience success in the communities, homes, and schools.
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is an approach to wrong doing that focuses on the needs of the victim, offender, and the community affected. It is based on a concept that crime or misconduct is an offense against relationships. This approach involves a trained facilitator working WITH the participants to repair harm and trust, rather than prescribing or directing a punishment. Restorative practices foster dialogue between the person who caused harm and the harmed party, often engaging the affected community members. The goal is to talk about the impact stemming from the choices made, how the harm can best be repaired, and whose obligation it is to repair the harm. Restorative justice practices show high rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability. There are a wide variety of models within the scope of restorative practices all resting in a set of values and principles that are fundamental to any restorative justice practice. The link below leads to the School-Based Restorative Justice Referral form, which can help facilitate the restorative justice approach.