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

ARY and CHINS PetitionsFREQUENCY OF USE AND KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A STATEWIDE

SURVEY

Catherine Pickard, MSW, MPP Washington State Center for Court Research 2015 Becca Conference

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

246 257 260 239 293

1,8611,643 1,548 1,419 1,449

Number of ARY and CHINS Petitions Filed Annually

ARY CHINS

CALENDAR YEAR

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 PopulationIntervention ProgrammingCourt Policies

0%

40%

80%

47.8% 60.1% 59.4%

51.8% 39.5% 39.1%

Gender of Youth with ARY and/or CHINS Petition(s) in 2013

Female Male


AsianBlack/African

American

Native American/Pacifi

c Islander WhiteOther 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%

Race and Ethnicity for Youth with ARY and/or CHINS Petitions in 2013


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

201315.8 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 Becca Task Force ARY AND CHINS SURVEYS DISTRIBUTED IN 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


Who participated in the surveys? PROFESSIONAL COURT STAFF

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

JURISDICTIONS NOT RESPONDING

Jefferson

Cowlitz

Okanogan

Ferry

Asotin

Garfield


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)


WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR FILING A CHINS 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”

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR FILING AN ARY PETITION? “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”


Is there always a Family Reconciliation Services (FRS) assessment provided to the

ARY or CHINS petitioner? 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”

DOES YOUR COURT USE ANY SORT OF SCREENING OR ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR YOUTH WITH AN ARY OR CHINS PETITION?

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


What services are you able to order in an ARY or CHINS case?

AT LEAST 75% OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS REPORT ABLE TO ORDER:

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

FAMILY COUNSELING

FFT COUNSELING

DRUG TESTING

DRUG EVALUATION

MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION

50-75% OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS REPORT ABLE TO ORDER:

DBT COUNSELING

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM

PARENT SUPPORT GROUP


OTHER SERVICES OFFERED LESS FREQUENTLY:

RAD COUNSELING

MST COUNSELING

ART

CSEC REFERRAL

INTERNET ADDICTION COUNSELING

THE INCREDIBLE YEARS

TRIPLE P

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES PROGRAM

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”


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”


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”

75% of Survey Participants said “YES” they collaborate with other agencies to provide service in ARY and CHINS cases

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”

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In your opinion, how effective are the ARY and CHINS pro-cesses in your jurisdiction?

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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


http://www.courts.wa.gov/caseload