4.2: Expand social services to keep youth out of the justice system

Issue Statement and Context

Low-income young people who are particularly at risk of being victims and perpetrators of crime, or who may have already been traumatized by violence, are often not getting the preventative programs and services they and their families need early enough. The social service organizations and schools that serve them frequently struggle to identify early intervention points for those young people who are most at risk. Opportunities to intervene are at times missed, and too often families experience poor coordination of services.

The County’s Juvenile Services Department (JSD), which serves many of our youth and their families through its facilities, programs, and services, has been an early pioneer of approaches that recognize the challenge of intervening with the right service at the earliest moment possible. JSD manages a series of prevention programs and front-end services that are informed by assessments of early risk behaviors. The department’s Civil Citation program also works to identify points for early intervention for youth.

To improve coordination of services, JSD operates a “juvenile justice continuum” that includes law enforcement agencies, public schools, courts, state attorneys and departments of Juvenile Justice and Children and Families that work together to ensure that services to residents are delivered in a coordinated, timely way, and that everyone is learning from each other’s expertise. JSD hosts monthly “Multidisciplinary Staffings” for children that have contact with law enforcement. All the agencies that serve the child are at the table to coordinate and provide a holistic approach and leverage shared resources. To expand its reach, JSD is currently researching the feasibility of implementing across its continuum of care the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) tool, to assess young people for traumatic stress and create integrated care experiences informed by that assessment.

Detailed Action Summary

Provide trauma-informed care and associated services for young people and families known to be at high risk of entering the criminal justice system to meet their needs and prevent justice involvement. Implement new ways for the County to understand the well-being of young people in Miami-Dade and identify points for early intervention for youth.

- Partner with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and other organizations that provide services and programs for youth to provide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) assessments to as many young residents as possible, with a focus on middle school-age children, to identify youth in need of support. Connect these young people to services that address specific needs and risks identified via the assessment and – if possible – track progress over time.
- Use data from the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department to identify family members of incarcerated people and similarly provide assessments to connect these individuals – and particularly young family members who are at highest risk of becoming justice-involved – to wraparound services provided by the County and/or community partners.
- Work to incorporate No Wrong Door liaisons into the workflow of the JSD’s prevention programs and equip liaisons to provide ACE assessments.
- Work with JSD to pilot “early warning systems” that leverage new sources of data that could help programs and schools identify risk earlier, more accurately, and more equitably. Ensure the new systems include all the appropriate privacy and security measures to safeguard resident data and are in compliance with federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Address all the public records Sunshine Law implications up front.

4.2: Expand social services to keep youth out of the justice system

Issue Statement and Context

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Detailed Action Summary

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