1. Does keeping youth Close to Home really matter
Does keeping youth Close to Home really matter? A Case Study A Pre-Publication Presentation March 16, 2018
Marsha Weissman
Vincent Schiraldi
Kendra Bradner

2. Early Reforms Lay the Foundation
Dept. of Probation “Project Zero” detention & placement reforms
Spofford facility closes
Annie E. Casey Foundation supports ACS Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI)
Brooklyn for Brooklyn
Initiative piloted
2006
2010
2012
2003
2007
2011
MOCJ adopts Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI) to guide detention decision-making and introduces ATD programs
Merger of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Administration for Children's Services
Dept. of Probation placement assessment/ continuum reforms

3. 2006 2010 2012 2003 2007 2011 2015 Close to Home: Close to Home:
Phase 1 NSP September 2012
Dept. of Probation “Project Zero” detention & placement reforms
Close to Home:
Phase 2 LSP December 2015
Spofford facility closes
Annie E. Casey Foundation supports ACS Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI)
Brooklyn for Brooklyn
Initiative piloted
2006
2010
2012
2003
2007
2011
2015
MOCJ adopts Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI) to guide detention decision-making and introduces ATD programs
Merger of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Administration for Children's Services
Dept. of Probation placement assessment/ continuum reforms

4. Political Will: Convergence of Champions
Mayor – NYC Team
Deputy Mayor
ACS Commissioner
Probation Commissioner
Corporation Counsel
Department of Education
Governor – NYS Team
Secretary for Public Safety
OCFS Commissioner
DCJS Director of Juvenile Justice Policy
Legal Aid
Courts
Advocates
Providers
Annie E. Casey Foundation

5. Documenting the Need for Reform
2006
Human Rights Watch/ACLU report on girls in OCFS
2009
DOJ/Legal Aid Report and Litigation on OCFS Facilities
Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice
in New York State
Documents:
Abusive treatment of girls in confinement
Inadequate education
Inadequate gender- specific mental health services
Documents:
Failure to protect youth from harm
Failure to provide adequate mental health care and treatment
Demands:
Reduce disproportionate minority contact
Reduce placements
Expand ATI programs
Improve placement facilities, including keeping kids in placement close to home
Ensure successful reentry
VS: when discussing this slide, mention in-custody death at Tryon in 2006

6. Detention Drops 37% in NYC
Non-NYC: -31%
JD/JO Detention Admissions
VS: Somewhere in here we should mention that after NYC engaged in their detention reforms by creating the risk assessment instrument and expanding alternatives, they not only reduced the number of youth in detention, but every risk category experienced double-digit declines in pre-adjudication arrests.
Source: NYS Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS)

7. Placements decline dramatically in NYC
Non-NYC: -20%
Since C2H, declines in placements are 2.4 times greater in NYC than in the rest of the state
VS: add to handout
NYC: -68%

8. A Continuum of Responses
Non-Secure Placement
Residential facilities for youth placed into ACS custody as a disposition of their case. Services include youth care, education, social work and case mgmt services, social skills instruction, access to mental health and substance abuse treatment, coord. of health care and public safety measures.
ATP 1
ATP 2
ATP 3
Probation Level 1
Probation Level 2
Probation Level 3
An “advocate” from within the youth’s own community who works with specific youth several times per week. Followed by level 3 probation after a transitional planning phase prior to completion of program.
Highly intensive level of probation (5 wkly contacts incl. Sat. work group; life coaching model) focused on promoting change in participants so they can fully participate in society and forge successful transition into adulthood.
In-home, evidence-based treatment modalities, including FFT, MTFC & MST, followed by level 3 probation after a transitional planning phase prior to completion of program.
Contact: 1 meeting per month for 1st 6 months plus referral to services as needed. Also 2 collateral and phone contacts per quarter. Home contacts as needed.
Contact: 2 meetings per month plus referral to services as needed. 6 additional contacts per quarter (phone and field visits regarding case plan), including at least 1 home visit.
Contact: Begins with 6 personal contacts and 8 collateral contacts per month. Contact levels gradually decrease over time. Possibility for added curricula TBD, plus referral to services as needed.
ACD/DC
Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal/ Conditional Discharge
From Ana: overall utilization, due to declines in adjudications, has decreased, also because utilization of ACDs and other levels of probation have increased.  I do recall the “per 100 dispositions” utilization at the beginning was really good and going up, but that has leveled off and decreased.  
Don’t have slide but here’s the “narrative”:  Placements down, Judges using the full continuum more [or something along these lines]
ATP enrollments per 100 dispositions:
2012 à 14
2013 à 17
2014 à 25
2015 à 16
2016 à 14
Avg. Duration: 6 mos – 1 year
Avg. Duration: 1 year or less
Avg. Duration: 1 year
Avg. Duration: 1-2 years
Avg. Duration: 6 months
Avg. Duration: 1 year
Avg. Duration: 6 months
Avg. Duration: 6-7 months
Source: “Re-Envisioning Juvenile Justice in New York City,” NYC Dispositional Reform Steering Committee

9. Juvenile Arrests drop 28.5% more in NYC than in rest of state
The Close to Home Era: New York City Leads in Declining Juvenile Arrests
Juvenile Arrests drop 28.5% more in NYC than in rest of state
Non-NYC: -40.7%
NYC: -52.3%
JD/JO Arrests
Source: New York City Police Department (NYPD) and DCJS Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System

10. Percent Change in Juvenile Arrests
The decline in juvenile arrests double after enactment of Close to Home
VS: add to handout
Percent Change in Juvenile Arrests
Source: New York City Police Department (NYPD) and DCJS Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System

11. through a Youth Development Lens
Close to Home Outcomes
through a Youth Development Lens
Education: NYC DOE Passages Academy ( school year)
Average of 9.3 credits earned
Passed 91% of their classes
93% of C2H middle school students promoted at least one grade level
Almost half of C2H students who took NYS Regents passed
80% of C2H students with a disability who took a Regents exam passed
Family
76% of youth transitioned to parent; % to other family member and 1% to guardian
Engagement in pro-social activities
91% of youth who transitioned from C2H were enrolled with community-based programs.
VS: Kids need 44 credits to graduate so this means they're garnering a fifth of their credits in a relatively short period of time. Don't think we should include on slide but might be worth saying.

12. Implementation Challenges
Quick implementation:
5 months from passage of state law to opening of first NSP facilities
Experience Gap:
Some providers inexperienced with juvenile justice population
Programmatic Limitations:
Limited options to address non-compliant youth
Some providers struggled with fidelity to the models being used

13. Addressing the Challenges
When present, talk about how challenges were addressed
Here’s what we wrote in the summary about this:
Both providers and ACS faced these challenges head on, strengthening policies, improving training, and providing closer and more rigorous monitoring. In some cases, ACS ended contracts with providers who did not appear to be equipped to work with the youth population. Our preliminary findings show that AWOLs and program failures have declined considerably since these fixes were put in place.
Percent Change,
Source: NYC Administration for Children’s Services, 2018 and Close to Home Annual Report,

14. New Financial Challenge: Continuing the Commitment of Shared State/Local Juvenile Justice Funding
Initially, Close to Home included a state appropriation of up to $41.4 million annually
Executive Budget proposes elimination of all state support for Close to Home
Also caps and cuts the Child Welfare Services funding that now supports C2H aftercare and diversion
Total ACS C2H FY 2019 Budget: $75.5 million
Mention other Stephanie
(JJI), aftercare, and Raise the Age
despite the fact that Close to Home is due to more than double when Raise the age is implemented,
all of which needs to increase to implement Raise the Age.

15. Close to Home: A New York Legacy
Sustain Close to Home for NYC children – state/city funding partnership
Prepare Close to Home for RTA implementation
NYS estimates that New York City’s Close to Home juvenile placement system will triple in size from 195 youth to 685 youth, with the implementation of Raise the Age.
Ensure Close to Home can contribute to efforts to close Rikers
Expand Close to Home to the rest of the state
Disseminate Close to Home model nationally
Commission research of Close to Home outcomes

16. Resources and Information
Columbia University Justice Lab: justicelab.iserp.columbia.edu
Annie E. Casey Foundation:
Administration for Children’s Services: www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/justice/close- home.page
Office of Children & Family Services: ocfs.ny.gov/main/rehab/close_to_home
Raise the Age New York: raisetheageny.com
Center for Children’s Law and Policy:
John Jay Research and Evaluation Center:
Vera Institute of Justice: