Justice-involved youth are in good hands

Hon. Julia B. Owdziej
Washtenaw County Probate Judge, Presiding Juvenile Judge

A recent news article critical of Michigan judges for locking up juveniles for status offenses and the Washtenaw County’s Prosecutor’s statement that his office will not “charge” school truancy offenses may have left you wondering what is happening at the Washtenaw County Juvenile Court. Rest assured the justice-involved youth in Washtenaw County are in good hands.  We do not detain minors whose underlying ‘offense” is a status offense. (school truancy, running away, incorrigibility, curfew) We do, however, think school truancy is a big deal.
 
School Truancy:

In recent years there was a statewide initiative to stop the “school to prison pipeline.”  Kids missing school is the beginning of a pipeline that leads straight to prison. Washtenaw County had a very active task force to address this issue.  One of the initiatives to come out of this group was a collaboration between the schools and the Juvenile Court.  We were willing to assist schools with the truancy issue and created a coordinated effort to get kids back in school. The coordinated effort saw an increase in school truancy referrals to the court from 30 in 2015 to 205 in 2018.  The families were assigned a case worker from the court to help address whatever barriers there were to school attendance.  Caseworkers routinely address needs beyond school attendance.  They collaborate with inter-disciplinary agencies to secure funding for eviction prevention, utility shut-off, food and coordinate resources.  Youth that are court-involved for truancy are connected with supportive services to address their mental and physical health.  Parents are also provided with resources to complete or further their own education and employment prospects. In addition to increased academic attendance and engagement, the goal is to stabilize the child and the household.  This is our practice with each case. 

What we do NOT do, is detain kids on truancy cases. Nor do we adjudicate the cases.  The family never sees a prosecutor or the inside of a courtroom.  This is a program between the schools and our diversion staff who are all master level social workers.   We still have every intention of continuing to help these families, because we feel this early intervention helps children.  We are able to do so because the referrals do not come from the Prosecutor’s Office, they come from the schools. We have recently increased staffing to these diversion cases because they are so important in stopping the “school to prison pipeline.”  We just started a Student Achievement Program with Ypsilanti Middle School, recognizing that the sooner we can start prevention services, the better the outcomes will be. This program assists at risk youth who are not court-involved.
  
Services Offered:

Even the children who do come to the Juvenile Court with a criminal offense are treated markedly different than individuals in adult court. We are a court of rehabilitation and services.  We are the safety net for families in crisis.  Parents routinely ask us for help.  Parents are often the ones calling the police because they do not know where else to turn. For these families we offer a variety of services.

Substance abuse treatment.  We have had a Juvenile Drug Treatment Court since 2004. I was assigned to the treatment court when I was a referee.  When I became a judge, I kept the assignment for myself because it is the most meaningful part of my job.  I know we have helped families, prevented deaths, and put kids back on the right track.  Graduation day is a special day in Drug Treatment Court. One father recently said, “We are fortunate to be in a place with a program like this.”  A mother said, “My baby girl is standing next to me- alive, because of this program.”   One parent spoke to a college social work class and told them, she had a plan to commit suicide and take her children with her.  An actual plan.  Instead, her son came into the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court program where the whole family was supported, and a tragedy avoided.  Another young man on graduation day said,  “When I started this program I thought “Joe” was crazy when he said this was the best thing that ever happened to him. Now I know what he meant.”

Sexually Reactive Treatment.  Recognizing that many of the kids who sexually offend were once victims themselves we emphasize treatment and education.  These kids are seen on a separate docket and have monthly court reviews.  We have just contracted with a new treatment provider who will be providing individual and group therapy.  Because of the extra stigma and difficulties an adjudication for a sex offense can cause, most kids have the opportunity to “earn” a dismissal of the charges.  Victims’ families often attend with great interest in the minor’s progress.  Some see the benefit of treatment and some, understandably, are quite angry.  We hope that if they see that we are addressing treatment and accountability, it will bring them some comfort.  The anguish that the parents of victims have is heartbreaking and we know it is a very fine line to walk between accountability and treatment. 

We brought the Parent Project to Washtenaw County.  When you are working with a juvenile you must address the needs of the entire family.  Parent Project gives parents the skills to manage the difficult teen years.  We sent three probation officers for a weeklong training to bring the project to our county.  We ran programming in the evening to take away obstacles to a family’s attendance.  We provided transportation and food.  The programming was not only for the court-involved youth and parents, but for the younger siblings as well.  I was so impressed with the Juvenile Court staff on this project. They worked extra hours, and evenings, and provided home-cooked meals - all for no additional pay.
 
Mental health:

We have been partnering with Washtenaw County Community Mental Health to provide a therapist for our court-involved youth. Treating these children, who present with mental health challenges, is an on-going struggle. This collaboration with WCCMH, not only assists these children and families, but increases the communication between the Court and WCCMH to ensure a child is getting all of his/her needs met. 
 
Additional services:

It would take too much space to list all our services, but a partial list includes:   

• Evening programming, which is a resource to our families after traditional office hours. Not only do they check to make sure that kids are at home, but they also provide on the spot conflict resolution. 

• Staff has taken kids to professional and college sporting events, auto show, and many other outings.  They have even taken them to dinner because the kids had no idea how to order from a menu at a sit-down restaurant. 

• Staff has organized a summer job fair for our kids.

• Staff partnered with Neutral Zone to provide daytime programming for our kids who were not in traditional all-day school.  The kids were in desperate need of positive activities. 

• We worked with Youth Arts Alliance to bring an art program to the kids in detention and those in our in-patient drug court program.

• We provide a summer sports camps to all community kids, not just court involved. 

• Probation staff created a trauma informed yoga group.  

Most of these programs were initiated by our staff who saw a need and came up with a solution.  They routinely go above and beyond to help the children we serve.  We call them probation officers, but these master’s level social workers are so much more.  They are serving your children well.

We have many projects just starting or in the planning stages. These include partnerships with several local providers, such as:

• Family Assessment Clinic, which provides trauma informed assessments and works with our sexually reactive youth.

• We are looking forward to working with Children’s Services and other providers to create a day treatment program.  

• We just started a tutoring program with UM students who are helping our kids struggling in school. 

• We are also excited about starting a Young Black Male Empowerment Group, with a local health provider.

• We are developing a skill building program, as part of our intensive probation services. This VoTech program will develop skills geared to our older youth who will benefit from learning certain trades such as carpentry, electrical repair and plumbing, and potentially other skills such as cooking and auto repair.

Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC):   

The total number of children who come to us from the prosecutor and police has been on a 12-year downward trend. In 2008, 1,265 petitions were filed with the court, by 2015 the number was down to 589, by 2019 down to 437 and in 2020 down to 315.   However, the number of children petitioned to Juvenile Court is disproportionally minority.  It is particularly true for the children that are placed in the county detention center and in residential placement outside of the county. We do not control which children come to us, but it is our absolute obligation to treat the children who do come to us in a fair and equitable manner.  To address this aspect of DMC, we have decreased the use of detention and out of county residential placement and increased our community-based services.  

It is also important for the community to know that juveniles are not “sentenced” to detention.  Detention is a temporary hold until we can get enough services in place for a safe return to the community.  While a child is detained, we are working hard to get the child a school program. (many are either expelled or have been disconnected for so long they are just dis-enrolled) We are working to get them stabilized.  WCCMH has a psychiatrist who works with the kids in detention who need mental health evaluations or medication.  Sometimes we are looking for a parent or relative willing and able to take them.  When they go to detention, we are immediately working on a plan to get them out.

Though it is our goal to keep kids in our community, sometimes this cannot be done safely so they are sent to a residential placement.  They are either a danger to themselves or the community.  Unfortunately, we do have some kids who commit very serious crimes but while they are in placement, they are receiving a myriad of services. 

We were able to avoid placement for one young man recently. He had already gone through our treatment court but continued to struggle despite our efforts and two loving and involved grandparents. He was stopped in a stolen car and ran on foot.  The police chased him, eventually caught, and arrested him.  The police discovered he had a handgun in his pocket.  How close this came to a tragedy scared me to death for this young man, the police, and the community. I was determined to keep this young man alive and started looking at placement options.  Between Covid and an excellent probation officer he avoided placement.  The probation officer found a black male therapist to come into detention to work with this young man and he made great progress.  When I closed his case last month, he thanked me for giving him a chance.  I told him to only come back to tell us what great things he is doing.

On the other hand, I did place two young men into a residential facility last year when I became so concerned for their safety and the community’s safety. They had committed several criminal offenses and once guns become involved, no one is safe.  In making that decision I was aware that their mother had already buried a child because of gun violence.  I was aware that a few years earlier, I had decided not to send a young man to placement and 8 months after that decision, he was in jail for murder.  I relay these stories to show that it is always a delicate balancing act and these decisions are not made easily or cavalierly.  We don’t always get it right, but we are always dedicated to helping the children who come to us.