Juvenile Justice Week: JCJC Collaboration Strengthens Joint Training
As Juvenile Justice Week (October 6 – 12, 2019) is recognized in Pennsylvania, a collaborative training workgroup is taking a joint training titled Shared Case Responsibility: Maximizing Quality of Care for Children & Youth in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems into the final stretch of development. This group is comprised of SWAN prime contract staff and professionals from the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission (JCJC). The training is informed by law, practices and experts from child welfare and juvenile justice systems and is designed to be presented by trainer teams representing each system.
Shared Case Responsibility refers to the practice of sharing responsibility for care of and services to youth who are under the direct supervision of either the county children and youth agency or juvenile probation office, or both concurrently, and the families of these youth. Although Bulletin 3130-10-01 - Shared Case Responsibility Policy & Procedures was effective in October 2010, counties may experience challenges with how to work shared cases, including how to address Adoption and Safe Families Act requirements for this population, and how to engage respective parties with these cases. This training will review the legal requirements of Shared Case Responsibility, barriers agencies may face in working with these cases, the benefits of Shared Case Responsibility, success stories, and collaboration to implement the requirements.
The training was first piloted in October 2018 in York County and then abbreviated for a session at the JCJC conference in November 2018. The training was further refined over the last year based on the evaluation feedback. “Working with our colleagues from juvenile justice gave the training a unified voice,” said training specialist and workgroup facilitator, Deborah Wilson Gadsden. Brooke Milliron, SWAN LSI division manager, who also served on the workgroup added, “Sue, Sonya and Leo’s knowledge and expertise of the juvenile justice system helped make this training more relevant and accurate regarding the delinquency side of shared cases and how they have seen shared cases play out.”
The workgroup members included SWAN prime contract staff who were joined by Sonya Stokes, director of professional development for the Center for Juvenile Justice Training and Research; Susan Claytor, deputy director at York County Juvenile Probation; and Leo Lutz, director of policy & program Development for JCJC.