May 03, 2013

Dear DJJ team members:

Welcome to my weekly letter. I am pleased to share the following news and announcements.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION ENDS TODAY: Florida’s 2013 Legislative Session is scheduled to adjourn today. The final day of Session brought one more legislative victory to our agency as the DJJ’s Boards & Councils legislation (House Bill 617) received the support of the Florida Legislature after final passage in the Senate. House Bill 617 streamlines Florida’s system of juvenile justice boards and councils into 20 Circuit Advisory Boards that would be directly (statutorily) linked to the Department. The revised composition of those 20 Circuit Advisory Boards will create a system that ensures every Florida county has multiple representatives. Moreover, the new composition of the Circuit Advisory Boards will ensure consistent representation from county commissions, sheriffs, police chiefs, workforce boards, state attorneys, public defenders, judges and the educational community – all critical stakeholders in Florida’s juvenile justice system. Thank you to all the board and council members and other stakeholders who worked so diligently to mold and shape this legislation into a product of many voices and community input! Once the last legislative decisions have been made and the gavel falls, we’ll get to work assessing the outcomes and impact of legislation pertaining to the Department. Next week, I will share with you a comprehensive legislative update outlining those details.

NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH: The month of May has been designated National Foster Care Month. As you know, many of the children in our system come from foster care and more than 380,000 youth nationwide currently reside in the foster care system. This observance is intended to shine a light on their experiences. In the coming weeks, DJJ plans to highlight our efforts to encourage, mentor and strengthen these kids as they make their way to adulthood.

JOHN JAY COLLEGE WEBINAR: Yesterday, I had the honor of sharing Florida’s juvenile justice successes with a group of journalists who attended the Juvenile Justice News Network webinar, held by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice . Much of the conversation revolved around school-related arrests. I was proud to share that Florida has experienced a 26 percent reduction in school arrests in the two years since I’ve been DJJ Secretary. I believe this achievement is the result of DJJ staff working collaboratively with school districts and school staff to help them distinguish the difference between misbehavior and true threats to school safety. We also discussed Florida’s approach to eradicating human trafficking, a key component of which is DJJ’s pilot project designed to identify potential human trafficking victims immediately upon arrest. Last year alone, DJJ reported more than 400 Florida kids as potential human trafficking victims and connected youth with confirmed cases to appropriate resources. This type of success wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of DJJ staff, so I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for contributing to improvements such as this that draw national attention.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING KUDOS: Thanks go to Cina Wilson-Johnson , Karimah Wright and Libby Grimes for dramatically increasing the collection of fees from providers. DJJ contract service providers are responsible for annually reimbursing the agency for the cost of using DJJ’s CORE online training system. The ladies developed a more efficient accounting process to track the associated fees and, as a result, the agency has collected approximately $100,000 in unpaid license fees since February 2013.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT KUDOS: The Bureau of Quality Improvement (QI) conducts an annual review of each state-run and contracted provider program. This is a highly interactive process between the review team and the program, and the focus of these reviews is continuous improvement in services to children and operational processes. Upon completion of each QI review, the program has an opportunity to evaluate their overall QI review experience, including individual QI team members. The feedback DJJ receives ensures fairness and fidelity to the purpose of the review, and allows for the continuous improvement of the QI process. Recently, the QI team in Ft. Lauderdale conducted the annual review of AMIkids Miami-Dade North day treatment program located in North Miami Beach. Program Director Enrique Garcia offered the following comment:

“Let me begin by saying that on behalf of myself and the AMIkids Miami Dade North staff, it was a pleasure to host the QI review team this week. Gabriel and the team were great in aiding us in the process of fine tuning the small areas so that we can become a better service provider to our youth. AMIkids Miami Dade North sends a sincere thanks to them in helping us provide an excellent service to all of the youth we serve.”

Thanks to the QI team members, Gabriel Medina, Tom Mahoney, Johnny Richardson and Sherwood “Woody” Hanford . Your conscientious commitment to helping programs improve is one example of DJJ’s reform efforts to make Florida a leader in the humane and effective administration of juvenile justice. Click here to see QI’s most recent program reviews.

Q&A ON REFORM – “SPEP”: Florida is one of four states recently selected to participate in a groundbreaking national initiative to reform the juvenile justice system by translating "what works" into everyday practice and policy. DJJ is selected for the Juvenile Justice System Improvement Project (JJSIP). Administered by Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, the JJSIP provides a framework for implementing best practices throughout the entire juvenile justice system. An essential component of the JJSIP is the implementation of the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP). By explaining SPEP, it is my hope that you will better understand the outcomes we are trying to achieve. Thanks go to Michael Baglivio for recently conducting SPEP webinar training for residential and quality improvement staff. Every residential program – contracted and state operated – had leadership and clinical staff participate in the webinar.

Q. What is the SPEP intended to accomplish?
A. The SPEP is an evaluation tool to measure how closely delinquency interventions, as provided, align with the most prominent criminological and psychological research in the field. Furthermore, the SPEP helps identify concrete recommendations for improvement in order to optimize intervention effectiveness and positive outcomes. The SPEP evaluates services in the following categories:

• Service Type (e.g., cognitive behavioral; group counseling);
• Service Quantity/Dosage (duration and intensity of contact hours);
• Service Quality (e.g., written protocols/manuals; training; fidelity monitoring; corrective action); and
• Juvenile Characteristics (e.g., risk to re-offend; level of youth served).

Q. How long has DJJ been participating in the SPEP?

A. DJJ is just beginning to integrate the SPEP. We have trained all program monitors to document services provided at each of their assigned programs. Those documentation visits are occurring now. Baseline SPEP assessments will be conducted during fiscal year (FY) 2013-14.

Q. What was last week’s training for?

A. Training was to inform residential programs and providers about the service documentation component of the SPEP and that the monitors will be arranging the documentation visits. The service documentation visits will essentially document all of the delinquency interventions and treatment groups that are being provided at each facility.

Q. What are the next steps?

A. To see how closely those services match research on effectiveness.

Q. Why are they important?

A. To optimize effectiveness of each service with respect to reducing recidivism; program improvement to match what research shows is effective will optimize success of our youth with respect to re-offending rates.

CIVIL CITATION UPDATE: Judge Jose R. Rodriguez of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, serving Orange and Osceola counties, has invited DJJ to present on civil citation as the focus of a session titled “Delinquency, Diversion, and Creative Enforcement: Create your own Diversion Program,” at the Advanced College of Judicial Studies Conference on May 7. Delinquency judges will discuss judicial participation and school based civil citation programs.

The 28^th National Prevention Crime in the Black Community Conference , scheduled for May 29-31 in Orlando, will include civil citation in two workshops, “Civil Citation: A Proven Juvenile Diversion Program that helps Black Youth Succeed” and a session on disproportionate minority contact. Lawrence Hill of the Duval Teen Court and Nancy Ricker of Duval ICARE will lead a discussion on the value of community collaborations. ICARE, which stands for Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation, and Empowerment, strongly supports civil citation. It is a coalition of the congregations of 33 Jacksonville churches, synagogues and mosques, consisting of approximately 20,000 local residents. Ms. Ricker and Mr. Hill have developed a civil citation process under the umbrella of Teen Court that utilizes neighborhood accountability boards (NABs) in the lower poverty, higher crimes neighborhoods. NABs offer an effective approach to delinquency intervention, and are placed in areas near schools that have centrally located intervention services for youth.

Palm Beach County has a successful juvenile first offender (JFO) program administered by the county schools that follows a youth court model. Most stakeholders and community leaders are supportive of serving civil citation youth within the JFO framework. A presentation to the county’s Criminal Justice Commission on May 28 will compare and contrast the JFO program and the civil citation process, and provide a visualization of how civil citation may operate within the JFO program with only a few procedural changes. Also, as follow-up to a recent civil citation presentation by Civil Citation Coordinator Theda Roberts , the Law Enforcement Council intends to agenda a civil citation discussion at a future meeting.

DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY CONTACT (DMC) UPDATE: DJJ State DMC Coordinator Marcus Smith met with Gadsden County Superintendent of Schools Reginald C. James and local pastors on April 20 ^th to discuss collaborative efforts to reduce DMC through the DJJ Roadmap to System Excellence and local investment in juvenile prevention efforts. These conversations will aid the Department in assuring the right services to the right youth at the right time.

Marcus and Andy Hindman, manager of faith and community partnerships, are also working with church congregations in Gretna provide free after-school care for youth.

On May 8, Marcus and Prevention and Victim Services Deputy Director Rhyna Jefferson are scheduled to provide technical assistance to Circuit 17 Juvenile Justice Board members. Rhyna and Marcus will also assist in strengthening local collaborative efforts to reduce DMC.

DETENTION UPDATE: I am pleased to announce that Douglas Kane, Jr. is now the superintendent of the Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Detention Center (PBRJDC), effective today. Mr. Kane had been serving as the acting superintendent since March 22^nd. Prior to his service with the PBRJDC, Mr. Kane worked with the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center in his native Ft. Pierce for more than 10 years.

PROBATION UPDATES: Probation offices across Florida offer positive activities to engage youth in responsible ways. Here are two recent events:

CIRCUIT 15 (PALM BEACH COUNTY) – Staff participated in a webinar titled “At the Intersection of School Safety and Supportive Discipline: Navigating the Roles and Responsibilities of School Resource Officers (SROs).” The webinar, which was sponsored by the federal agencies for Health and Human Services, Justice and Education, discussed training requirements to ensure an effective partnership and a safe school environment while promoting positive youth outcomes. Representatives from several communities discussed their personal experiences and the practical strategies they have developed regarding SROs in their schools.

CIRCUIT 11 (MIAMI-DADE) – DJJ Probation is partnering with Miami-Dade County Prevention Services to provide weekly Empowerment Youth Group sessions to youth and their family members. The Office of Prevention has identified speakers to facilitate group discussions on bullying, gang awareness, and substance abuse prevention. The youth earn community service hours for participating.

RESIDENTAL UPDATE: On March 30^th, the Pensacola Boys Base (PBB) partnered with Feed the Children to bring a tractor-trailer full of food and personal care items to 400 needy children and their families in the Pensacola area. Feed the Children’s partner agency Community Actions pre-identified the families who received donations. Each family received a 25 pound box of food and a box of personal care items. Eighteen youth and seven staff from the PBB were on hand distributing food and were joined by fifteen community action volunteers. In addition, Pensacola area Home Depot’s assisted by providing a fork-lift and employees to off-load the distribution truck.

CORRECTED - TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS AND SONS TO WORK DAY: Circuit 2 JPO Craig Swain (on the left in the inset photo) was incorrectly identified in last week’s letter with the wrong last name. My apologies, Craig! Once again, thank you for taking time from your busy day to talk to employees’ children at DJJ’s headquarters program for National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day on April 25. To see the Florida Channel’s coverage, click here ; the DJJ segment starts at 27:10.

Sincerely,

Wansley Walters

Secretary

PS: Please send any noteworthy or newsworthy items for consideration in my weekly letter to the Communications Office at

News@djj.state.fl.us

or call 850.921.5900. Submissions are considered on a space-available basis and may be edited for clarity and length. Thank you for your cooperation.