Examples of Programs and Intervention Models

Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Home Run Program

The MDT Home Run Program consists of five teams located throughout San Bernardino County, Calif. Each team has a probation officer, a public health nurse, a licensed clinical therapist, a social services practitioner, volunteers, and others as dictated by client need. The teams implement a case management protocol in which high-risk juvenile probationers are diagnosed through the use of a risk assessment instrument that examines the juvenile’s social functioning, which includes factors such as crime at an early age, disrupted families, school failure, drug and alcohol abuse, and association with other delinquent youths. The team then provides direct service and service referrals relevant to each team member’s professional experience. Interventions include elements of restorative justice, such as victim restitution, community services, and traditional treatment modalities such as counseling and group therapy.

Annie E. Casey Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)

This initiative seeks to demonstrate that there are more effective and efficient systems to accomplish the same purposes of juvenile detention. The objectives of JDAI are to reduce the number of children unnecessarily or inappropriately detained; to minimize the number of youth who fail to appear in court or re-offend pending adjudication; to redirect public funds toward successful reform strategies; and to improve conditions of confinement.

Wraparound Milwaukee

Wraparound Milwaukee is a system of care for children with serious emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs. Its family centered approach emphasizes developing  and delivering services that are strength based, highly individualized, and community oriented. Youths are referred to the program by probation officers or child welfare workers. The program targets children who meet the following criteria: are involved in two or more service systems including mental health, child welfare, or juvenile justice; have been identified for out-of-home placements in a residential treatment center; and children who could be returned sooner from such a facility with the availability of a wraparound plan and services.

Orange County 8% Solution 

This program of the Orange County (California) Juvenile Probation Department is dedicated to the prevention of serious, repeat juvenile crime. The 8% early intervention program was founded in 1994 and focuses on youth age 15 or younger who are at the point of their first or second referral for alleged crime.

Practical Academic and Cultural Education (PACE) Centers for Girls

PACE provides gender-specific programming for at risk and delinquent girls in day treatment settings. The program is based on initial screening and assessment to insure that the girl’s needs and risk factors are matched with the appropriate motivation for change and improvement. PACE carries out its program in cooperative agreements with local school districts and includes remedial services, individual instruction and specialized educational plans.

Indianapolis Restorative Justice Conference Project

This juvenile court diversion project for youth aged up to 14 and was founded by the Marion County Superior Court Juvenile Division (Indiana). To be eligible the youth must be a first time offender (or not previously adjudicated), with no other pending charges, who has committed a non-serious, nonviolent offense. Once the youth’s case is accepted a conference is scheduled and brings together every party to the incident (youth, victim, teachers, coaches, witnesses, parents and etc.) to fully discuss the incident and the youth’s involvement therein. This results in a plan and agreement by all in the conference to prevent a recurrence of the original offense.

To read about other innovative and exciting programs, click here.