AG 1994 03 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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PROGRAM NARRATIVE Many youth exhibit delinquent er chronic status offense behaviors which lead to involvement with law enforcement agencies and the Juvenile Court. For the calender year 1993 the number of individual juveniles brought to court in Cabarrus County for delinquent behaviors totals 363, and 107 youth for undisciplined behaviors. The number of petitions for these 470 youth would be higher since many youth had more than one petition each. This large number of youth coming into our court system places a strain on the ability of the District Court Judges, Juvenile Court Counselors, and Social Services systems to be able to meet the particular problems for the foster care and group home placement service sin the county. Ail possible measures must be taken to prevent the inappropriate placement of children into foster care where possible. Many times intervention while the youth is in the home can reduce multiple disruptions in the child's life is placement in more than one facility becomes necessary. Also children who experience behavior or emotional problems often have disrupted out-of-home placements. The multiple placements further complicate the youth's ability to cope and may trigger greater disruptive behavior such as acting out, run away, etc. At that point the task of reuniting the child with the family may become even more difficult. Some parents develop a tendency to "throw away" children once they are placed out of the home, leaving the child with no home to return to, resulting in long term foster care. Referrals to the Home-Based program by District Court Judges and Juvenile Court Counselors, may help to insure that all community resources are fully utilized prior to custody being placed with Department of Social Services and out-of-home placement. To this end, Home-Baeed Services are another intensive measure for insuring the "reasonable efforts" part of Public Law 96-272 (Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980). This act requires that child welfare agencies make "reasonable efforts" to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of a child from his home, and to have implemented a preplacement preventive services program designed to help children remain with their families. All services offered prior to a child's placement in foster care are evidence of compliance with this mandate. This must be done in order to receive federal foster care funds. This program is staffed by a full-time social worker. This worker's schedule is flexible in that the worker may be making home visits and contact with the youth and his family after the normal working hours of the agency. Some referrals to the program are by telephone. Other referrals to the program are in written form and completed by the referring agency assisted by the social worker. The referral is reviewed by the supervisor of the home-based worker. Following acceptance of the referral, an intake and assessment interview occurs. This initial interview involves the youth, his family, and the referral agent if appropriate. Out of this discussion results the development of a service plan for the youth and his family.