Brooke County SCHOOL BASED PROBATION OFFICER

Pre- Trial Diversion Meeting An initial assessment is done during or after the Pre-Trial Diversion Meeting. During the diversion meeting the SBPO will obtain all of the general information such as any medications or diagnoses the juvenile is on and family background information. All school information is obtained such as: grades, attendance, and discipline reports. The SBPO meets with the juvenile the same or following week without the family around to obtain information in further detail. It is during these meetings in which the juveniles have disclosed the most information.

Referrals All are referred to the DHHR YSS for services. Referral to Home Base for their truancy program to receive services. Referral to Juvenile Mediation for the following: individual counseling, psychological evaluation, anger management, etc. If there are safety issues and/ or concerns a CPS referral is made.

Obtaining School Referrals In Brooke County the School Based Probation Officer covers all of the schools. Either the Principals or the Counselors fill out a referral for services of truant youth and then then a diversion meeting is scheduled either by the school and/or the School Based Probation Officer. On some occasions the School Based Probation Officer will sit in on CA2 meetings and inform the families what the next step will be if the juvenile continues to miss school.

Diversion Outcomes Elementary School All of the elementary children on the diversion have been successful. The goal was to address the parenting and home issues by loading the families with services to assist any areas of need. There are very few children in this category on the diversion. Middle School All of the middle school children have overall been successful with some minor issues of compliance with the parents and trouble at school. The biggest issues faced with this age group is the parents and several CPS referrals have been made for various reasons ranging from a filthy home to the parents abusing drugs. High School One juvenile dropped out of school. One juvenile was expelled from school and will be attending the Youth Reporting Center for his education. A modified diversion will be set in place. One juvenile is currently in the court process for failing the diversion. A few students have received OSS and ISS. Overall, majority of the students are doing well with the exception of a few.

Supervision Levels Home Base services are provided to the more severe truancy cases and/or the homes in which the Truancy Task Force Team has determined there are legitimate concerns about the family. The Home Base worker is in the home several times a week supervising, observing, and providing services. SBPO will meet with the juveniles anywhere from a weekly- monthly basis depending upon their specific needs. The juveniles who get into trouble at school have heavy supervision, sometimes multiple times a week. SBPO is called to the school anytime a juvenile gets suspended. SBPO also gets called to the school upon the juvenile’s request. SBPO and DHHR Worker conduct home visits on a weekly basis. If a juvenile refuses to go to school then SBPO and the PRO go to the home and escort the student to school.

Truancy Task Force Meeting Members include: School Based Probation Officer, Attendance Director, Public Resource Officer, Juvenile Mediation workers, DHHR YSS Brooke County Workers and Supervisor, Brooke County Juvenile Probation Officer, CPS Supervisor, and Home Base workers. Meetings are held on a monthly basis and all of the diversion cases are reviewed. At this meeting we discuss whether services need to continue for each family and if any additional services need to be added. This meeting also gives us all the opportunity to address any communication issues between service providers and make changes to our system that we have set in place if needed.

Collaborative SBPO AND DHHR WORKER WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER TO ADDRESS TRUANCY ISSUES. THE DHHR WORKER ATTENDS THE MAJORITY OF DIVERSION MEETINGS WITH SBPO. SBPO AND DHHR WORKER CONDUCT HOME AND SCHOOL VISITS TOGETHER MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK.

Results In Brooke County our program has only been in place for about two months so we are just in the beginning stages. As time goes on modifications are made on a regular basis to better the program.