1. PARTNERING TO MAKE JUVENILE JUSTICE FACILITIES SAFER FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX YOUTH

2. Marna Goodman, Chief of Professional Development & Training – Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice David Fischer, Director, Court Involved Youth Project – Health & Medicine Policy Research Group PRESENTERS:

3. QUICK LANGUAGE PRIMER Sex – the biological condition of male, female, or intersex. Sex is a combination of chromosomes, hormones, genitalia, gonadal tissue and secondary sex characteristics. Sex is assigned at birth, generally based on an examination of external genitals. Sex exists on a spectrum. Gender Identity – A person’s sense or experience of belonging to a particular gender category as a man (boy), woman (girl), or an identity outside of our man/woman structure. Gender identity is an internal sense of gender that is separate from one’s sex assigned at birth. Gender exists on a spectrum. Sexual Orientation – Who you are attracted to emotionally, physically, sexually, etc. LGBTQI (Acronym) – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning & Intersex

4. Research: “We’ve Had Three of Them: Addressing the Invisibiltiy of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Gender Non-Conforming Youths in the Juvenile Justice System” Angela Irvine, 2010 R.G., et al V Koller (2006) – Case law that established Hawi’i Youth Correctional Facilities’ failure to protect gay and transgender youth PREA – Standards include provisions for LGBTQI youth LGBTQI ISSUES IN JUVENILE JUSTICE: NATIONALLY

5. In 2008, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group established the LGB/T Court Involved Youth Taskforce Worked with the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) to establish an Office of Girls and Gender, which specifically addressed the safety and programmatic needs of girls and LGBTQ youth Worked with the JTDC to pass the LGBTQI policy, one of the first in the country Provided training to select staff in all Illinois Youth Centers LGBTQI ISSUES IN JUVENILE JUSTICE: ILLINOIS

6. In 2012, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice was sued by the ACLU on behalf of all residents in the custody of the DJJ Consent Decree filed in 2013 outlines requirements for: – Policies for safety and support of LGBTQI youth – Training for all staff on LGBTQI issues – Establish a process for determining placement of and accommodations for transgender and gender nonconforming youth – Find supportive placements for youth when they leave IYCs LGBTQI ISSUES IN JUVENILE JUSTICE: ILLINOIS

7. Policies Policy Implementation & Procedure Development Training Development Training Comprehensive Evaluation Technical Assistance & Support Feedback Loop & Procedure Adjustment OUR PARTNERSHIP APPROACH

8. Procedures: – Developing a process by which to ask about SOGIE – Determining how to talk to Transgender, Gender Nonconforming and Intersex youth about their accommodation needs – Determining how to best address staff concerns Policy Implementation & Procedure Development Policies are folded into all training and technical assistance We work to anticipate challenges and bring clarity to pitfalls with policy POLICIES & PROCEDURES

9. Training is taking place department-wide – In-facility Trainings – New Staff Academies – Aftercare (Parole) Trainings – Developed in partnership with each facility – Contextualized to the needs of the facilities – Developed with and for individual staff positions (or groups of similar staff positions) to provide the most applicable tools and information – Rigorously evaluated TRAINING

10. Major Objectives – Build empathy for LGBTQI (and all) youth – Place LGBTQ issues into context with normative youth development – Address fears and concerns of staff – Provide a practical, operationalized understanding of policy – Give opportunities to practice through scenarios, what-if discussions, and real life experiences – Leave participants with practical implementation steps Scripts for talking to LGBTQ youth Scripts for addressing harassment and bullying Lesson plans for teachers Therapy tools Modifications for existing tools and programs Group activities TRAININGS, CONT.

11. Prior to training, assess what staff need in a training Provide detailed evaluation to assess training style, resources, and content Meta-analysis of training evaluations—across trainings, what is successful? What is unsuccessful? What do trainings not provide? What correlations exist between evaluation answers? – For example, people who made homophobic, transphobic, or other negative but not constructive comments in evaluations were more likely to respond that they were not at all comfortable talking to youth about their sexual orientation – People who reported that they felt somewhat or strongly comfortable talking to youth frequently reported that they had a better understanding of what LGBTQ youth were facing (eg, they quoted better understanding how youth are rejected, feel unsafe, or experience a lack of support) – Utilize training evaluations to change content, and track those changes Utilize training evaluations to change content, and track those changes – For example, changing the video clip and adding more empathy building activities, across trainings, effected a small shift towards more positive responses and less negative but not constructive responses COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION

12. Developed a Mental Health Cohort to work on building a core of people imbedded in facilities that can act as allies, advocates and educators on LGBTQ issues – In-depth & ongoing training – Monthly meetings that target specific questions – Case studies Working with re-entry team to identify and work with housing and placement programs that can become more LGBTQ affirming for better placements Determining other ways LGBTQ issues can be included throughout existing practices and trainings Identifying and building upon resources and supports that the department can utilize TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & SUPPORT

13. Issues that come up in trainings in facilities can be brought back to the department – Ways to identify and address problematic staff – Larger issues of culture and climate within facilities can be seen and addressed Holes in policies and policy implementation can be identified and addressed – Questions or concerns that staff raise can be dealt with – Differences in physical plant and facility practices can be seen and addressed through procedures Other efforts the department is undertaking can be folded into trainings or connected to this work – Eg, staff can find ways to use Positive Behavioral Supports to deal with LGBTQ issues. De-escalation tactics can be folded into the LGBTQ training by supporting staff to find the root of a youth’s issue FEEDBACK LOOP

14. “Script Cards” Scenarios Empathy Building Techniques Questionnaire for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth Evaluation Tool Group Activities for Youth Therapy techniques PRACTICAL TOOLS