State lawmakers this year approved $50 million over the next two years to support juvenile diversion programs. The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission appropriation also included a provision to address mental health needs.
All counties have been given an opportunity to receive a grant to create or expand existing programs.Montgomery County is receiving $255,500, and will use about $50,000 to expand its at-home program. Harris and Fort Bend counties, which each have mental health programs similiar to Montgomery County, also have accepted grant money. Harris County will get $4.1 million, and Fort Bend will get $204,400.
So far, only 15 counties, including Brazoria County in the Houston area, have not submitted plans to receive funding, state officials said.
While not all grant money will be used to focus on mental health, there is a pressing need for such services statewide, particularly in rural and suburban areas, said juvenile justice officials. In 2008, about 32 percent of young people referred to the juvenile probation system had mental health needs, compared to 25 percent in 2005, according to state records....
Harris County plans to use its state grant money to develop another mental health diversion program, she said. It will use care teams consisting of a parent partner and a mental health provider to work with juveniles and their families in the home. The partner is a parent who has a child with mental health issues. The county also plans to purchase psychiatric services for a transitional care program to make sure juveniles who leave detention are not without services while they try to connect with an outside provider, Quintana said.
Fort Bend's money will fund its resident placement program, said Mike Meade, chief of the county's juvenile probation department.
RELATED: Montgomery County spending juvie diversion funds on mental health
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16 comments:
Probation departments did not move forward with the receipt of these dollars. Many millions were lost with IV-E being removed. Please do not think new monies are in our system to answer the mental health needs of juvenile offenders.
Im all for more money to local
juvie depts. However, it makes no
sense that a juvie can commit and infinite number of misdemeanors and never wind up at TYC.
8:25 - I guess you also think that adults who commit multiple speeding violations (class C misdemeanors) should be able to be sent to TDCJ??
9:36 If it was your convenience store that he ran out of with a six pack every day how would you feel?
The point is..these folks need discipline,and help to avoid future violations of the law. They will not get discipline or help in the youth commission. They learn abuse from watching it there and just get worse when back in your neighborhoods. Use local juvenile justice but avoid tyc at all costs. That system is the next step to adult prisons.
Considering all of the scrutiny on TYC, I would argue it is currently the safest correctional facility in America.
More funding is needed for the juvie programs. If we can catch these guys while they are young then maybe we can prevent them from carrying on this type of behavior into adulthood.
04:44 said: "More funding is needed for the juvie programs."
Those of us concerned about the viability of juvenile justice programs need to become more concerned about where we will find the money to fund them. I would encourage each of us to educate ourselves about the current state of the US economy. Is our economy in a free fall? If so, this will eventually impact all state government programs.
I suggest we focus on the deficit, government borrowing and debt, government spending, the collapse of the dollar and taxes which may dry up investment. If we don't understand these trends we may find the funding of "juvie programs" to be much more problematic.
Tarrant, Lubbock and Brazoria refused the TYC commitment reduction funds, along with 19 other smaller/rural counties. WTF?
Sorry 435 but you are incorrect. Even with all the attention drawn to TYC, it still is a miserable place for youth and employees. Just read all the problems at Al, Giddings, Marts, Crockett and the rest of the institutions of abuse.
Institutions of abuse....please. Now i believe that correctional institutions in and of themselves are problematic and create environments for abuse but i have to agree with 4:35
TYC is in worse shape now than it was before the "reforms." Certainly, there were things that needed changing in TYC, but we threw out the baby with the bathwater. By all means, keep kids out of TYC. Major changes need to be made in community programs. Diversion is a good thing, but we also need post-incarceration programs to help prevent recidivism among those who get sent to TYC.
We allowed a once-fair agency to become a cesspool where kids were abused at will. Now it seems all has evolved and the kids are out of control and abusing us. Why did we who cared, allow all to happen? I guess we waited and ignored the crisis too long until our lovely comfort zones expired.
cheyenne ---
You have no sense. Juveniles who receive Class C speeding / traffic offenses can never be referred to the Juvenile Court system for those offenses.
8:25 as you referred to him/her is correct. Please note what misdemeanor offenses are in your penal code ... when you are assaulted, when your car gets broken into, when someone threatens to kill you, etc. Those are all misdemeanor offenses but I'm sure you would consider them the equivalent of gettng a ticket for speeding.
Juvenile diversion money is nice and all but the system has already lost a ton of money from the loss of IV-E funding so no one comes out ahead in this deal.
Quote me on this : We are creating unsafe communities by downgrading dispositions for various offenses. This isn't in every community but it is in many of them. For example : I know of at least one County where if you break into a building ... state jail felony offense Burglary/Building ... If it is a juvenile's first offense ... Deferred prosecution ... for a felony?? seriously. Many communities are just becoming more tolerant of juvenile deinquent behavior.
For those that talk about the issues at TYC .... if you have a car that doesn't work right, don't you go get it fixed or do you just stop using it?? Seems to me TYC needs to be repaired and stop pushing off all the work on local juvenile probation departments.
Diversion funding is a joke ... targeted funding is for mental health programs. Don't we have an agency in charge of mental health services in Texas??
The "diversion funds" were not dispersed equitably. Counties who historically had LOW committments to TYC were penalized for doing a good job already. Counties who just sent kids to TYC to get rid of them got the bulk of the money. Travis County received not much more than much smaller counties because they had reduced committments on their own. Now, instead of a "GREAT JOB HERE IS FUNDING TO CONTINUE YOUR GREAT WORK" they got a " other counties need the money to do what you have already been doing" slap in the face. Alternate plans were presented but TJPC arrogantly ingnored the plans. Shame shame.
please keep the non-violent kids in the community and work with them because if you send them to TYC, they'll come out a violent and more corrupt person
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