ARY and CHINS Petitions FREQUENCY OF USE AND KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A STATEWIDE SURVEY Catherine Pickard, MSW, MPP Washington State Center for Court Research 2015 Becca Conference

Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

What about frequency of use by individual courts? COURTS FILING ZERO CHINS PETITIONS IN AT LEAST ONE OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS: Adams, Asotin, Benton, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Greys Harbor, Island, Kitsap, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Okanogan, Skamania, San Juan, Walla Walla, Wahkiakum, Whitman, Yakima Why do we see variations in the number of ARY and CHINS petitions filed in each county? Youth Population Intervention Programming Court Policies

Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Race and Ethnicity for Youth with ARY and/or CHINS Petitions in 2013 Asian Black/African American Native American/Pacific Islander White Other or Unknown ARY 2.6% 9.3% 3.5% 70.4% 15.0% CHINS 2.2% 12.7% 1.8% 68.4% 16.2% ARY AND CHINS IN 2013 1.4% 14.5% 0.0% 63.8% 21.7% Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Average Age When Becca Petition was Filed in 2013 Percent of Youth with a Juvenile Offender Referral Prior to 2013 Becca Petition Average Age at Time of First Offender Referral Percent of Youth with a Dependency Case Filed (through 2013) Average Age at First Dependency Case Filing ARY 15.4 42.0% 14.0 9.1% 7.3 CHINS 15.8 46.5% 14.4 25.0% 9.4 ARY AND CHINS IN 2013 40.6% 14.6 15.9% 10.7 Multi-system Involvement for youth with ARY and/or CHINS Petition(s) Filed in 2013 Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Washington State Becca Task Force The Becca Task Force provides a forum to help foster collaboration between courts, schools, and service providers; leads efforts to ensure that adequate funding, accountability mechanisms, and efficient and effective processes for carrying out the intent and goals of the Becca laws are in place. ARY and CHINS Surveys distributed in 2015 Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Recognition that the ARY and CHINS processes can vary county by county Survey intended to help identify: How Petitions are filed in each court Innovative approaches to the ARY and CHINS Petition process Collaboration between agencies Opinions from professional court staff on how they view the ARY and CHINS Petition processes Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Who participated in the surveys? Professional Court Staff Jurisdictions NOT responding Juvenile Probation Counselor Juvenile Probation Manager Court Commissioner Probation Director Diversion Supervisor Becca Caseload Supervisor/Coordinator Juvenile Court Administrator Case Manager Children’s Administration Supervisor Judge Detention Manager Public Defender Jefferson Cowlitz Okanogan Ferry Asotin Garfield Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

How do people in your community get information about ARY and CHINS? Juvenile Court Services (97%) Children’s Administration/DSHS (90%) Law Enforcement (87%) Schools (84%) Word of Mouth (77%) Counselors (71%) Attorneys (68%) Website (55%) (Comments also mention other community partners, such as: TeamChild, Lutheran Family Services) Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

What is the process for filing a CHINS petition? What is the process for filing an ARY petition? “The youth will call the toll free number to set up an appointment” “Documents are available from the juvenile court, school and DSHS office. Once forms are prepared, take to DSHS for review and assessment. If approved by DSHS… we send out notice and assign attorney” “Youth is directed to DSHS to speak with an FRS worker. FRS worker explains the process, complete the Family Assessment and will help the youth in filing the petition” “Screened for eligibility by JPC, referral made to defense attorney, CHINS filed by attorney” “Parent/legal guardian contacts the DSHS Intake Line and requests an At-Risk Youth Order” “Documents are filled out by parent, taken to DSHS for assessment. If approved the documents are brought back to juvenile department, attorney assigned and notice is mailed to respondent” “Families call the ARY coordinator for initial screening. If parents are convinced they want to file, they fill out a petition and set up an appointment with the ARY coordinator to work on a family assessment” “Exactly the same as for a CHINS Petition” Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Is there always a Family Reconciliation Services (FRS) assessment provided to the ARY or CHINS petitioner? Does your court use any sort of screening or assessment tool for youth with an ARY or CHINS petition? Does your court accept ARY and CHINS petitions and set hearings without FRS family assessments? “The court would prefer to only hear petitions accompanies by a family assessment. Occasionally this is not possible given children on the run or other extenuating circumstance” “If DSHS cannot complete within 72 hours, the petition can be filed” “Petitions are filed and hearing set before the family assessment is completed. However, if the family assessment is not completed by the fact finding, the hearing is continued” “A CHINS may go forward on an interim basis if placement is an issue” Out of 41 survey participants: 44% provide an assessment for both ARY and CHINS 34% do not provide an assessment for ARY or CHINS 12% “don’t know” if they provide an assessment for either petition SS-GAIN (Global Assessment of Individual Needs), Trauma Screen , PACT, UCLS/CPSS Trauma Screen for ARY cases FRS Case assessment: Intake and assessment services, the FRS shall include: exploration of the seriousness of the situation that triggered the crisis, determination of family strengths, and the assessment of the need for CPS services, including reporting of all cases of suspected child abuse. Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

What services are you able to order in an ARY or CHINS case? At least 75% OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS REPORT ABLE TO ORDER: 50-75% OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS REPORT ABLE TO ORDER: OTHER SERVICES OFFERED LESS FREQUENTLY: INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING FAMILY COUNSELING FFT COUNSELING DRUG TESTING DRUG EVALUATION MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION DBT COUNSELING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM PARENT SUPPORT GROUP RAD COUNSELING MST COUNSELING ART CSEC REFERRAL INTERNET ADDICTION COUNSELING THE INCREDIBLE YEARS TRIPLE P STRENGTHENING FAMILIES PROGRAM Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

Do you believe the court has accessible and appropriate services for the families you are serving? “Overall I think we have accessible and appropriate services. It would be nice if specific cases need more specialized services that those would be more accessible. Example: A teen who is not on probation cannot access ART under an ARY” “Currently working with a steering committee to increase current and add new programs” “We desperately need Anger Management and/or ART for our population!” “Becca youth don’t have access to the same number of services as offender youth” Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

What barriers to services do you believe exist? “Inadequate service delivery in an ARY (like FFT for example) often results in the conflict increasing….” Overall, we have very good outcomes. However, there are some cases where additional services would be beneficial” Our biggest barrier is a toss-up between variety of services available, and language. We currently have no counselors that speak Spanish in the county” “I don’t believe we have a barrier to services. I believe we have more of an issue with family participation” “Families with inadequate health insurance or funds are not always able to obtain the counseling and treatment recommended for their situation” “DSHS programs that are available to dependent families are not available to non-dependent cases” Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015

75% of Survey Participants said “YES” they collaborate with other agencies to provide service in ARY and CHINS cases What barriers exist that limit your ability to collaborate with other agencies to provide services in ARY or CHINS cases? “Lack of staff time/availability and money” “Lack of knowledge about who to collaborate with” “Lack of family specific services in the community” “We are meeting with FRS next week to clarify roles amongst agencies so that we can increase our partnership and alignment, in effort to improve our ARY/CHINS outcomes”

Successful Programming “Parent-teen mediation, using a local mediation agency” “Connections– drug court grant funded, is really helpful for youth struggling with addiction issues” “Administrator allocated a small portion of funding to serve a few ARY youth with FFT” “Boys Council and Girls Circle” “Community Truancy Board”

Where to find more data on youth in Washington State? Annual Caseload of the Courts: http://www.courts.wa.gov/caseload OJJDP Juvenile Data: Easy Access to Juvenile Populations: 1990-2014 www.ojjdp.gov Washington State Center for Court Research - October, 2015