2017 Juvenile Court Community Report

JUVENILE COURT

17 JUVENILE COURT

REPORT

Empowering Youth Strengthening Families Investing In the Community

Message from the Administrator Pierce County Juvenile Court, also known as Remann Hall, is committed to making a powerful contribution to the health and safety of our community. We envision a safe, connected community where all youth are supported and empowered to build on their strengths so they can reach their potential.

We are fortunate to have 151 talented, caring and committed staff who are advocating for abused and neglected children to get into safe/permanent homes,

supporting kids and families struggling with school attendance, creating meaningful interventions for youth who break the law, and providing residential custody of young people who pose a danger to the community.

All of the work we do must have a strong focus on race equity and inclusion. Our internal Equity Team continues to seek solutions through training, relationship building and policy discussions. By enhancing our practices and policies and strategically working together with our community partners, we will eliminate disparities in the system and create a level playing field for all children in Pierce County.

Pierce County continues to experience high rates of abuse and neglect referrals. Some families in our community are struggling with drug/ alcohol addiction, mental health, poverty and/or homelessness. We are committed to maintaining strong community collaborations as we work to provide adequate resources, effective interventions and real help to these families. We are fully invested in supporting schools and families to keep young people connected to education and job opportunities.

A significant shift over the years is the focus on engaging in dialogue and listening for ways to support young people, families and the

community. We have developed strong partnerships with Universities to translate current research into our daily practices while maintaining data driven decisions and programming.

We pride ourselves in doing our best to make sure that kids and families leave our system with valuable skills, resources, and community support to help them be successful.

We recognize that our court would not be as effective without the help of our dedicated volunteers and community partners. We would like to extend a special note of appreciation to over 450 of our selfless volunteers who give so much to the youth and families in Pierce County. We value and appreciate the numerous community partners who work side by side with us to make a positive difference.

Our hope is that this report not only provides insight into the work we do at Pierce County Juvenile Court, but also offers highlights of our court’s vision, values, desired outcomes, interventions and community partnerships. The more we all work together, the better our community will be.

TJ Bohl, Juvenile Court Administrator

BECCA UNIT The Becca Bill, passed by state legislature in 1995, was designed for parents to gain assistance from the courts to support their at-risk teens. It consists of At-Risk Youth (ARY), Child in Need of Services (CHINS) and Truancy.

At-Risk Youth (ARY) & Child In Need of Services (CHINS) The ARY and CHINS programs provide support to youth who are struggling with behaviors that may endanger the health, safety or well-being of themselves or another person. The Juvenile Court and Family Reconciliations Services (FRS) collaborate closely on ARY and CHINS to ensure that youth and families are offered appropriate services prior to the filing of petitions and required appearance in court.

ADOPTION UNIT The Juvenile Court Adoption Coordinator facilitates Pierce County adoption referrals, including step-parents, second parent, relative, and post placement reports.

Adoptions Completed

389

2014

447

1,515 1,205

1,339

186

2017

CHINS 183

141

21

101 2016

2017

2014 2015

Truancy

394

2016

ARY

860

2014 2015

322

2015

TRUANCY

The Truancy program involves a collaborative partnership between the Juvenile Court and Pierce County school districts to help students improve school attendance. CTBs are an early intervention alternative to court, offered to youth and families who are struggling with attendance related barriers.

Truancy Filings: 1,339 petitions

11

2016 2017

9

7

2014 2015 2016 2017

Community Truancy Boards (CTBs) assist in building connections, offering support, and developing individualized plans to help support the student and family.

192 Youth participated in a CTB

DEPENDENCY UNIT Pierce County Juvenile Court’s Dependency unit provides advocacy for our communities most vulnerable children who have entered the foster care system due to allegations of abuse and/or neglect.

The Dependency unit includes 14 Guardians ad Litem (GALs), an average of 257 Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) community volunteers and 7 CASA Coordinators who mentor and provide support to CASAs. CASAs and GALs elevate children’s voices throughout the court process and work closely with parents, social workers, attorneys and other stakeholders to achieve permanency and positive outcomes for the children we serve.

Dependency Youth Served 2,144

2,145

2016

2017

2,048 1,947

2014

2015

12 Yrs & Older 6% 8-11 Yrs 16%

4-7 Yrs 20%

Ages of Youth Served

0-3 Yrs 46%

Dependency Highlights

BLANKETS, SHOES, DIAPERS and BOOKS

We give thanks to our volunteers and community partners for donating knitted blankets, shoes, diapers, wipes, formula and age appropriate books to our children involved in the Dependency system. The families we work with appreciate the support.

Boat Builders

ARTS CONNECT The Juvenile Court and Hilltop Artists partnership provides a weekly program to probation and dependent youth on various art forms, including glass blowing, basket weaving, and tile works.

Projects are generated from group discussions and writing activities.

44 Dependency youth served

Tacoma Community Boat Builders, Children’s Fund, Department of Child and Family Services and the Juvenile Court partnered up to provide a pilot program for dependent youth. In addition to learning how to build boats, youth reported an increase in positive adult relationships and experienced opportunities for teamwork, cooperation and practicing leadership through planning exercises and boat excursions.

8 Youth served in the pilot program

BEST FOR BABIES & BABY COURT Best for Babies and Baby Court improves outcomes for infants and toddlers, ages 0-3. This model program is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, providing early intervention services and support to youth and families, as well as promoting healthy and secure attachments to parents and caregivers. The program has shown that it reduces the amount of time families spend in the court system.

16 Infants and toddlers served

CASA PROGRAM

A BOOK FOR ME According to United Way of Pierce County, 1 in 4 Pierce County 3rd graders are not reading at grade level. Studies from the Annie E. Casey Foundation demonstrate that children who don’t read at grade level by 10 years of age are 6 times more likely to drop out of school. Access to books is one of the main barriers to keeping low income youth from reading at grade level.

The “A Book for Me” program was created to do our part to provide a new, age-appropriate book to every child entering the foster care system. Our goal is to help children achieve success in reading and promote reading at home and in school. Books are provided to children through generous donations.

If you would like to contribute books or donations to this program, please contact Amber Hasler at (253) 798-7926.

Every child in foster care received a book in 2017

A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained volunteer, appointed by a Judge to elevate the voice of a child and make recommendations based on the child’s best interests both in and outside of the courtroom.

The goal for every child involved in the Dependency system is to grow up in a safe and permanent home and be returned to their family as quickly as possible.

FAMILY REUNIFICATION CELEBRATION For most children in foster care, reunification with their family is the best option for a permanent and loving home, and each year, hundreds of children are successfully reunified with their families.

The Family Reunification Celebration involves the Juvenile Court and stakeholders celebrating all of the families that were reunified during the year.

Elevate a child’s voice and join our team of CASAs! The Juvenile Court Dependency program relies upon the support and passion of our dedicated volunteers and we are grateful for their service to Pierce County’s most vulnerable youth.

If you would like more information on how you too can change a child’s life, contact Carrie Appling at (253) 798-3837 or visit our webpage at www.piercecasa.org

450 Families Reunified PIERCE COUNTY JUVENILE COURT

DIVERSION UNIT The Diversion unit provides an alternative to formal criminal processing of youth referred to the court for misdemeanor offenses. The goal is to provide meaningful interventions to educate, build skills and establish a support system so youth are better equipped to deal with life challenges in the future.

In addition to our current list of effective interventions, we are interested in exploring community partnerships to limit school arrests for misbehavior, giving law enforcement alternatives to arrest for certain behaviors, and enhancing our restorative justice approach.

Diversion Youth Served 1,920

2014

1,741

2015

1,518

2016

FAMILY FIRST 1,377

2017

1,377 youth received prevention services through Diversion in 2017

NEW Pre-diversion Program

We are excited about our Family First program focused on families impacted by incidents of domestic violence that launched in November of 2017. It is designed to provide families with immediate community resources and support without being formally referred to Juvenile Court. This program is led by the collaborative efforts of the Prosecuting Attorney, Department of Assigned Counsel, Juvenile Court and various community partners.

Probation Unit The role of Probation has evolved from one that traditionally focused on surveillance and compliance to a model that now assists with skill building and promotes connection to community so that our young people are better equipped to transition into adulthood.

State certified Probation Counselors facilitate individual and group sessions that build skills, help young people explore interests, develop talents and connect them to pro-social activities and relationships in the community.

Community PopUps In the summer of 2017 we partnered with local community organizations to provide youth an opportunity to participate in enrichment activities.

Pop Up’s offered: • Hip-hop camp (Center 4 Excellence) • Skateboard camp (Alchemy) • Womanhood Empowerment Yoga camp (Sky Tacoma Yoga) • Mountain Bike Experience at Swan Creek Park (2nd Cycle Bike shop)

1,343 youth were served in the probation unit in 2017 Youth Served in Probation 1,257

1,130

1,106

2014

2015

2016

1,343

2017

We appreciate the following donors who contributed financially so young people could participate in new, innovative community programs: • Life Center MOPS • McLendon Hardware • Mike n Terry's Outdoor Fun Park • Tacoma Rainiers Baseball • Wild Waves • Meadow Park Chevron • Saint Luke's Memorial Church • Connelly Law Office • Larry & Janie Reynolds • Titus Will Auto Group

• The Bamford Foundation • Windows of Hope Foundation • D&M 2006, Inc. DBA • Lakewood Presbyterian Church • Campbell Dille Barnett & Smith PLLC Attorneys at Law • Milgard Foundation • Anthem Coffee • Center 4 Excellence

P ositive Youth DevelopmenT Since 2015, we have been very intentional about establishing community partnerships to provide Positive Youth Development programming to young people connected to our court. Our partnerships and programs have grown from 3 to 8 during that time period.

The programs were designed after receiving feedback from Parents/Caregivers and young people connected to our court via surveys and focus groups.

Probation Highlights

“The speed of brain development in adolescence is second only to the period between birth to five years old. We know that adolescents pay more attention to rewards than risks and are highly focused on peers and identity development. Traditional probation approaches, with a focus on compliance and sanctions, are a complete misfit for what will help youth build skills and be successful in life. Opportunity Based Probation is a project to integrate what we know from adolescent brain and developmental science into probation practice. The program focuses on building youth strengths incrementally with weekly goals, exposing youth to new opportunities, and supporting parents as partners. The program is already having a significant positive impact on the relationship between probation and families and the positive involvement of youth in our community.�

Dr. Sarah Walker, University of Washington

OPPORTUNITY BASED PROBATION Opportunity Based Probation was developed in partnership with the University of Washington. The objective is to integrate principles of adolescent development and effective behavior management into probation supervision. This pilot case management model utilizes current research on teen brain development to motivate youth with goal-oriented incentives and strength-centered community activities.

25 of 26 (96%) youth that participated were successful

FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPY (FFT) FFT is an evidence based program where therapists work with young people and parents/caregivers to overcome behavior issues, build relationships and increase communication. Parents and young people learn how to negotiate effectively as they work on strengthening their support system.

Aggression Replacement Training (ART) ART is an evidence based program that helps young people learn to cope with aggression and thinking errors through work on social skills, anger control and moral reasoning.

Building new bridges This is an evidence based program for low risk youth and their parents/ caregivers provided in partnership with Our Sister’s House. Families and youth learn skills for better relationships and get connected to resources in the community.

50 of 70 (71%) families were successful

99 of 167 (59%) young people were successful

71 of 73 (97%) families were successful

ALLIANCES

Pathways to success

FAMILY COUNCIL

Alliances is a mental health probation program that works to strengthen families, ensure a strong support system is in place well after probation ends, and reduce the amount of contact youth have with the Juvenile Justice system. Young people and parents work in collaboration with court staff and advocates for a team approach to supervision.

21 families were served and 91% were successful

Pathways to Success is a unique 9-12 month specialized probation program for African American youth intended to prevent system entrenchment. This program incorporates a team approach where court staff and community members work collectively to provide intensive support for the youth and family.

21 families have been served and 60% were successful

Established in 2015, Family Council is a committee of parent/ guardians and young adults who use their lived experience with the Juvenile Justice system to impact system change. In 2017, the Family Council met with stakeholders to improve case processing, and met with Senator Jeannie Darneille to discuss the legislative process.

Family Council was selected to participate in the national Family Leadership Institute, hosted by Justice For Families.

Detention

RESIDENTIAL SUPERVISION Our residential supervision model provides safe, secure custody of young people who are in trouble with the law and pose a high risk to the community.

There were 3,182 bookings and 1,478 admissions in 2017. 80% of those youth were scored as low risk and stayed in our facility less than 4 days.

Average Daily Population 30

WRITE253

20

Youth in Write253 learn creative ways to express themselves and find value in being able to write about what matters most to them.

Workshops provide positive mentorship and relationship building in addition to helping youth work on literacy and vocabulary.

10 2012

2013 2014

In & Out of Custody Bookings

By Residence Pierce County City of Tacoma

2015 2016

2017

6%

33%

Charge Type 61%

Non-Felony

61% 12% Hold

27%

Felony

Other County

73% of bookings in 2017 were non-felony and hold charges.

Eight youth in this program also participated in a community poetry slam contest where the audience was able to listen to recordings of them reading their poems aloud.

BOOKCLUB

Homework Club

The Remann Hall Book Club was started by community volunteers.

Twice a month the volunteers come into detention to read and discuss books with youth. Guest authors have been invited to share their personal stories and provide motivation to the youth to pursue their goals.

Write253 volunteers, who are college instructors, work with our on-sight teachers to provide additional homework help twice a week to those youth who are working towards their English credit. Our volunteers help with teaching the basics of essay writing and completing assignments to increase their productivity towards earning

Due to the many generous community donations, the Book Club provided 326 youth with 578 new books in 2017.

credits while in our facility.

YOGA BEHIND BARS Youth in detention have the option to participate in Yoga each week. This program provides youth a positive outlet to relax and reduce stress, sleep better, and gain clarity. The youth also report it helps them handle conflict in a positive way.

Return on Taxpayer Investment $48,897 annual cost per adult inmate in Washington State.

For every dollar invested in correctional interventions for juvenile offenders taxpayers are saving between $3 and $11 dollars by keeping youth from returning to the system.

Read the full report on Evidence-Based options that Reduce Crime & Save Money www.piercecountywa.gov/WSIPP Sources: Washington State Institute for Public Policy, Association for the Advancement of Evidence Based Practice

Juvenile Court Executive Committee The Juvenile Court Executive Committee provides oversight of Juvenile Court operations. The following Superior Court Judges comprised the committee in 2017: • Jerry Costello

• Kathryn J. Nelson

• James Orlando

• Gretchen Leanderson

• Susan K. Serko

• Phil Sorensen

• Ed Murphy

• Kitty-Ann van Doorninck

• John Hickman

THANK YOU Volunteers play a vital role in the work we do at the Juvenile Court.

Members from the community donate their valuable time to enrich children’s lives, empower parents/guardians and help make our community a healthier place to live. Volunteers throughout the court take on important roles such as support staff, child advocates, case monitors, board consultants, family support, mentors, lobby support and transportation.

If you have a passion for serving youth and families and have an interest in volunteering, please contact Carrie Appling at (253) 798-3837 or visit piercecountywa. gov/juvenilecourt.

When it comes to improving the health and well-being of young people, we recognize and embrace the saying “it takes a village”. In that spirit, we would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and community partners, many of which are listed below.

Thank you for all you do.

2Watch A Common Voice A Step Ahead Pierce County Alcoholics Anonymous Alchemy Skateboarding Alpine Counseling Amara Annie E. Casey Foundation Bethel Family Center CASA Kids Catholic Community Services Center 4 Excellence City of Tacoma City of Sumner Children’s Fund Community Youth Services – Pierce County Comprehensive Life Resources DSHS Children’s Admin.

DSHS Rehabilitation Admin.

Facing Forward Tacoma Family Council of the Juvenile Court First Christian Church of Puyallup Gary E. Milgard Foundation General Federation of Women’s Clubs Tacoma Good Sam Behavioral Health

Greater Lakes Mental Health Hilltop Artists Hope Sparks Justice for Girl’s Coalition of WA Juvenile Court Volunteers Lake City Community Church Narcotics Anonymous Northwest Leadership Foundation Optum Our Sister’s House Pat Miles Consulting Peace Lutheran Church Pediatrics Northwest Pierce County Community Connections Pierce County School Districts Pierce County Sexual Assault Center Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Point Defiance Counseling Project Child Success Puget Sound Educational Service District Puyallup Tribe Reach Center Remann Hall Book Club Rotary Club of Gig Harbor Midday Rowlands and Associates

Safe Streets Second Cycle Sleep Train Tacoma Christian Reformed Community Church Tacoma Community Boat Builders Tacoma Goodwill Industries Tacoma Pierce County Bar Association / Volunteer Legal Program Tacoma Pierce County Health Department Tacoma Police Department TeamChild Theta Kappa Alpha Treehouse The Wishing Well United Way of Tacoma University of Washington University Place City Hall Washington State CASA Washington State Center for Court Research Washington State OSPI Washington State Partnership Council – Juvenile Justice YMCA of Pierce County Yoga Behind Bars Youth for Christ

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.�

Helen Keller We want our community to be one that is safe and supportive, where all children are healthy and succeed in school, and where all children grow up to be productive and contributing adults.

Contact Us 5501 6th Ave Tacoma, WA 98406 253-798-7900 piercecountywa.gov/juvenilecourt

JUVENILE COURT