Juvenile Justice Services serves youth ages 12-21 who have been committed to DCFS for either delinquent behavior or to access services for mental health treatment. There are five agencies within Juvenile Services, three youth centers (Summit View Youth Correctional Center (SVYCC), Caliente Youth Center (CYC), Nevada Youth Training Center (NYTC)), the Youth Parole Bureau, and the Juvenile Justice Programs’ Office. The youth centers are located across the state, Parole has offices in Las Vegas, Reno, Elko, Fallon and Carson City, and the Juvenile Justice Programs Office is located in Carson City. Generally, youth who are committed for care are placed in one of the centers for an average of six to nine months. Upon successful completion of the programming in the facility, the youth are released back into the community with supervision and case management services provided by Youth Parole. Youth committed for mental health treatment are placed directly on parole, and receive treatment and case management services based on their identified needs. Each of these agencies have as a primary mission the goal of protecting the community while providing a secure and caring environment that encourages youth to develop competencies, repay their victims, and to reduce or eliminate recidivism.

Over the last two years, Juvenile Justice Services has focused on critically assessing systemic challenges, action planning and implementation of strategies to improve the service delivery to children and families. Significant progress was made in increasing collaborative efforts with sister facilities and agencies, enhancing organizational and professional competence and establishing partnerships with public/private organizations.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

Staff Training

To ensure youth are safely supervised and rehabilitated, training staff at each youth center was a high priority. Each youth center scheduled up to 160-hours of competency-based training for all new employees within their first year of employment and for all staff to attend forty hours of training annually. Several of the training components include ethics, documentation, the Handle with Care Program, cognitive restructuring, and child abuse and neglect mandatory reporting.

Labor/Management Meetings

Labor/management meetings were initiated at the centers and include staff members from all departments to provide an appropriate venue for increased communication and problem solving. The committees use collaborative decision-making processes to recommend program/policy modifications and resolve problems. Consistent by-laws that govern the operation of the committees have been established and ratified in the three institutions, reflecting a common purpose and principles. The committees are advisory, focused on labor/management solutions and open communication and do not supplant the authority of the Superintendent and the Administrative Officers of DCFS or the Department of Human Resources. Committee members are committed to providing the communication and cooperation necessary to foster the relationships based upon mutual interests, respect and trust; by providing an objective process for dealing with issues and for resolving them.

Quality Assurance Reviews

SVYCC, CYC and NYTC have established the groundwork for consistent practice to ensure the safety and well being of youth and staff through a quarterly quality assurance review, based on American Correctional Association Standards. This quality assurance process utilizing on-site visits promotes implementation of consistent statewide policy and practice.

Staff Increases

The 2003 Legislative Session granted the Centers additional staff to reduce staff to client ratios based on national best practices. NYTC and CYC are currently funded at a 1:10 ratio for waking hours, with a current budget request that would decrease this ratio to 1:8. SVYCC is already funded at this level.

Video-Conferencing

DCFS has been able to implement the use of video-conferencing technology to better facilitate and meet the needs of youth and families. The three youth centers, SVYCC, CYC and NYTC, along with the two largest parole offices located in Las Vegas and Reno, currently have video-conferencing available. Video conferencing facilitates transition counseling between youth and the Parole Counselor, counseling and medication monitoring, treatment team meetings and in-service training.