Title: Focusing on Significant Issues for Reentry and Family Engagement
1Focusing on Significant Issues for Reentry and
Family Engagement Simon Gonsoulin, NDTAC and
Pat Frost, SDE, Nebraska
2Objectives of Session
- The group will explore common barriers or
roadblocks experienced by youth attempting to
reenter successfully school and the community at
large after incarceration. - The participants will brainstorm ideas that N or
D coordinators can put in place to strategically
address these barriers with a focus on family
engagement as a component of the reentry planning
process. - The group will engage in preliminary discussion
focused on connecting the monitoring event to
immediate and future technical assistance
pertaining to reentry and family engagement.
3What Is Juvenile Justice Reentry?
- Reentry refers to the process and experience of
reentering society after a term of incarceration
(Youth Reentry Task Force, 2009). - A coordinated set of activities for the youth,
designed within an outcome-oriented process,
which promotes successful movement from the
community to a correctional program setting, and
from a correctional program setting to
postincarceration activities. - This definition identifies three elements of
successful transition - 1. It is coordinated.
- 2. It is an outcome-oriented process.
- 3. It promotes successful movement between the
facility and the community (Griller-Clark, NDTAC
Transition Toolkit, 2008).
4Why Is Reentry Planning Important?
- National crime rates are higher and public safety
is compromised because many youth exiting
detention are not afforded necessary supportive
services when reentering their communities. - One study found that, within 12 months of their
reentry to the community, only 30 of youth were
involved in either school or work (Burllis,
2002). - In a recent study of homeless youth, between 10
and 17 years of age, the Wilder Research Center
found that 46 had been in a correctional
facility of those, 44 exited into an unstable
housing situation ( Owen, 2007).
5Why Is Reentry Planning Important?(continued)
- Many within the justice system, the human
services system, and the community have come to
recognize that returning young people to their
communities with only marginal investments in
their rehabilitation and little support for their
positive integration into community life is a
recipe for failure (Center for Law and Social
Policy, 2006). - Of youth released from foster care, group homes,
or juvenile detention centers, 25 spent their
first night either in a shelter or on the street
(Clark, 1996). - Youth who have been transferred to the adult
system face additional reentry problems.
Juveniles incarcerated in adult facilities are
30 more likely to be rearrested than those
retained in the JJ system, both sooner and for
more serious offenses (Bishop, 1996).
6Why Have Reentry Planning, Funding, and Practices?
- Youth require planned supports to reintegrate
into their families, schools, and communities. - Youth require a Positive Youth Development Model
of care. - Effective reentry services reduce recidivism.
- Fostering improved family relationships and
functioning, reintegration into school, and
mastery of independent life skills, can help
youth build resiliency and positive development
to divert them from future delinquent and other
problematic behaviors.
7Goal of Effective Reentry
- Typical goals for community-based reentry
services include social integration into family
and community systems of care, reduction in
recidivism, housing stability, advancement in
school, employment, and mastery of life skills.
8Principles and Promising Practices in Reentry
Services
- Prerelease planning
- Reentry services in the community where returning
youth live - Reentry services that proactively address
developmental deficits - Focus on permanent family/guardianship
connections - Recognition of diverse needs of returning youth
- Structured workforce preparation, employment, and
school attendance - Better use of leisure time
9Focus on Education and Employment
- Attendance at school is a strong protective
factor against delinquency. Youth who attend
school also are much less likely to commit crimes
in the short term and long term also. - More than one-half of the youth in detention
have not completed grade 8, and two-thirds of
those leaving formal custody do not return to
school. - Employment is another very strong predictor of
criminal behavior. Individuals who have a job
are less likely to commit crime (Uggen, 2003). - Research consistently finds that recidivism often
occurs just after release, sometimes within a few
days.
10Why Youth Dont Make It With Our Current Efforts
- Youth are considered difficult to manage.
- Schools face too much pressure to excel through
performance on standardized test scores. - Schoolwork completed in detention/secure care is
not counted by schools toward credit completion. - Zero tolerance policies affect reentry youth.
- State and local legislation place reentry youth
in alternative placements as a matter of standard
practice.
11Recommendations Think Exit at Entry
- Records exchange is neededminimum number of
days, standardized records, back-up/tickler
system. - Direct planning is done with facility, youth,
family, and school (youths plan for personal
future). - Monitor each students progress in school
community at 5, 10, 15, and 30 daysdont wait
for 60 and 90 days out. - Academic programs in facilities must reflect the
public school curriculum, and a vocational
program must extend beyond the work of the
institution. - Vocational classes should develop portfolios.
12Recommendations Think Exit at Entry
(continued)
- For academic classes, provide report cards and
list academic achievements. - Address mental health and substance abuse needs,
if appropriate. - Stay in touch with the probation officer about
school-related successes and problems. - Share information about skills learned and
specialized treatment. - Provide prerelease visits to community and school
(passes and furloughs). - Identify and provide aftercare/reentry services
and support to help address family needs that
will assist the youth in being successful in
school and/or employment.
13Family Engagement, Nebraska Style
- A guide to using Beyond the Bake Sale in
school PowerPoint slides for future technical
assistance - Transitions for LifeA parent training institute
- Parent to Parent NetworkParents empowering
parents, an advocacy initiative