IACJJA Meeting Agenda

Date:January 14, 2003

Place:ICRMP Building Basement meeting room 3100 S Vista Ave, Boise (Right next to Holiday Inn at Freeway)

0900 hrs. Call To Order President

(Times below are approximate and may change due to unknown circumstances, long or short-winded speakers, etc.)

0905 hrs. Introduction Membership

Present:

0910 hrs. Review/approval of minutes President

0910 hrs. Treasurer’s Report Treasurer

• $3144

0910 hrs. Tabled issues from prior meeting

• Home School Issue – Debbie Stallcup shared information from the Children at Risk Task Force Committee that she is a part of. There is an issue and concern that there are kids that are staying home and not being educated. Some parents may use the term “home schooling” but are not providing an adequate education. Shannon Page with the Department of Education is a contact person. Probation Departments can contact her at 332-6947 if they think they have a situation as described above. Ms. Page will keep track of the numbers but will not necessarily investigate claims. Senator Schroeder may be another resource. Also send information to Debbie Stallcup who will take it back to the Children at Risk Task Force.

0945 hrs. Working committee for Goals and Objectives for IACJJA

• A Discussion on how the Administrators conduct meetings; what the format of the meetings should be; and what changes need to be made in working with DJC and H&W in these meetings – Matt Olsen.

• Matt gave a brief overview of the situation based on the last administrators’ meeting. There needs to be a feel of collaboration. The solution was for IACJJA to take problems to IAC when they cannot be solved at the table. Another solution was for the administrators’ meeting to be set up differently. It was agreed that the first part of the meeting (the morning portion) would be strictly administrators. The afternoon meeting then will be opened up to DJC and H&W along with others. The hope is to achieve a more conducive, productive meeting. Issues concerning DJC and/or H&W will be presented to them in enough time so that they can be prepared to come to the table to discuss options and solutions. It was also agreed upon that the focus of the meeting would include various issues i.e., what programs counties are implementing, what counties are doing to be cost effective, legislative issues, etc.
• Matt also suggested that there be an agenda for the year. Clear objectives and goals identified for DJC, H&W, and counties as suggested through the bi-laws.
• The five objectives suggested by Matt were:
• Collaboration with other agencies
• Information sharing issues
• Effective programs
• Promotion of professionalism through training
• What are counties doing to save money

• Current issues that we are working on and are seeking answers to
• Functional Family Therapy
• Procedures
• Pre-Release (time-frames)
• Probation’s Role
• How is success being defined in the program (if they fail in the program how is OSC’s, Detention, and transportation issues being handled?)
• Who makes the final decision/consequences
• Follow-up, aftercare, is there contact 3 months, 6 months after successfully completing the program?
• How many sessions; minimum versus maximum
• Who does IYR report to – timeliness
• Front-end FFT – criteria and funding versus Re-entry
• Peer on Peer Restraint: Solution – Mike Stallcup and Brian Walker will write a position paper in collaboration with IAC.
• Probation Standards
• POST – Job Task Analysis on Feb 19, 20.
• Legislative Concerns: Idea was to have a member/representative on the Juvenile Justice Steering Committee

Lunch

Functional Family Therapy - The Idaho Youth Ranch presented. The IYR handed out a packet of information and then reviewed the program. Represented: Bob Ball, Amy Olson, Fern Sargent. The following was presented: An overview of FFT; Referral Steps; Contact Information; and the answering of questions.

Introduction: IYR started FFT as a Pilot Project in 2001 in Northern Idaho with the support of federal monies through DJC. In the pilot project, 125 families have been served to date. IYR was awarded a state-wide contract through DJC in mid-2002 for re-entry FFT. Under this contract, IYR has the ability to serve families anywhere in the state. There is also a small Juvenile Justice grant to provide FFT on a prevention level to prevent commitment. The grant is only for select counties due to the grant amount and the intent to serve as many families as possible. The hope is that this will be expanded to other counties in the future.

Family service offices are in Coeur D'Alene, Boise, and Pocatello. Each office has a Field Supervisor (Dr. Jim Park in N. Idaho, Fern Sargeant in Boise, and Dr. Mary Green in Pocatello. In DJC Region I, and for the southern area of that region, IYR has subcontracted with the Northwest Children's Home to provided services.

FFT is a proven model. It is approximately 30 years old. FFT began in Utah. Their main office today is in Seattle. FFT has received many awards and recognitions, including being a Blue Print Program.

Overview: There are 3 Phases of FFT:

1. Engagement & Motivation (Relational Focus - Phase I, can move quickly) Three Goals:

a. Reduce negatively and blame

b. Minimize hopelessness

c. Increase motivation for change

2. Behavior Change

Two Goals:

a. Change delinquent behavior

b. Relational changes

3. Generalization

Two Goals:

a. Prepare family for relapse

b. Plug in additional resources

The hope is the family will now have the skills to overcome a possible relapse, and they will know how to function as a family unit.

FFT therapists will look at risk factors, assessing the family continuously. They look for change in modeling; looking at how the behavior in the environment that they are in is changing. Teach interpersonal skills. They are not an extension of probation. They will have weekly meetings with the family that will last one to two hours. The total work involved for the therapist will average around 5 hours for one session. They will work with all family members. It is very intensive. They can increase the sessions if there is a need. Requirements are Age - 11 to 18 and one parent has to be willing to participate for the duration of the therapy.

Sex Offenders are exempt at this point, as FFT has not done research to determine effectiveness with this population. They will assess those families or clients that have mental health issues on a case by case basis. They may or may not be appropriate, depending on the severity of the mental illness.

Referral Process: For the committed juveniles, DJC will be making the referral. For front-end referrals, the referral needs to be filled out and sent over to IYR. A therapist will be assigned and within 48 hours the therapist will be in contact with the P.O. and the family. Once FFT is involved the therapist will have bi-monthly meetings with the P.O. and JSC if DJC is involved.

Therapy: The therapist will make contact with every family member. Assessments will be done every other session. There will be questionnaires given out to family members to assess strengths, needs, plan for behavior change and the role that the therapist will play in working with the family. A lot of reframing is used. The goal is to change the perception within the family. Not a crisis motivated program. The program will last on average up to 90 days. The family is evaluated continually. There is a mechanism in place if they need to go longer. The FFT national average is 8 to 12 sessions with the family. (DJC contracts 20). The goal is to stabilize the family and prevent re-commitment- not fix them. After the family has finished with FFT, there will be follow up meetings and booster sessions up to a year following completion. The therapist and how the family is doing will determine this. It is the standard practice of FFT to hook families up to aftercare services.

DJC's contract with IYR is for 95 youth by the end of June 2003.

Assessment forms and progress notes are open for review by the P.O.

The ideal is for a determination for FFT 60 days before discharge from a facility. 30 days prior to release into the community the FFT therapist would meet with the family. This would be the ideal.

The IYR will help P.O.s sell the program to their families if we need them to. We just need to call the Family Services Field Supervisor in your area (Dr. Park: 667-6251, Fern Sargent: 375-6923, Dr. Green: 235-4050), or call Jeff Schatz (Family Services Program Manager- 375-6923). Cost is $25.00 a day and includes: family therapy, meetings/staffings, travel, gas, equipment, administrative costs, and time for documentation (The national average for cost is $22-28 per day). Sessions will take place in the home. The caseload size for a FFT therapist will be a minimum of five families. Since the service is provided in the home, travel accounts for a lot of the time and keeps caseload sizes lower than if the service was provided in an office.

IYR is involved in funding negotiation with H&W to provide FFT for Child Protection/Mental Health families in their custody. They are also looking at revamping contracts with H&W. Counties can contract with IYR also to provide FFT services.

(Please see the attached DJC FFT Update for information on the effectiveness of FFT as an aftercare component to JJ placement)

Other Business:

Sometime during the last two weeks of March, DJC is scheduling a Female Offender Training. It will be two days.

Next Administrator’s Meeting will take place in McCall on March 12^th at 0900. The Best Western’s conference room is not available, but I am working on arrangements at this time. We will probably meet at the Woodsman Café.

Meeting Schedule:

March 12^th McCall – Best Western

May 21^st Pocatello – To be announced

August 13^th Coeur D’Alene – To be announced

September 21^st Pocatello – To be announced