The policy creates a joint panel of professionals who will get involved in the implementation process. The new policy will require the judicial council to convene the committee of stakeholders serving the needs of minors at various levels including the social workers, judges, probation officers, education officials, youth and lawyers in coordination with the child welfare and probation agencies. The first agency that will be impacted by this new policy is the social work. While many other agencies may have taken a crucial part in the process of the policy until its commencement, the social workers remain to play a vital role in the implementation process as asserted by LegiScan (2018). It will be the responsibility of the social workers to create a close relationship with the Dual Status Youth so that they can assist them to make the most appropriate life decisions and advise them to take advantage of the available opportunities to improve their future life outcome (Locke, 2017). They will also monitor the progress of the minors in the new program. The challenges that the social workers will face include the need to realign themselves so that they can effectively fit into the program. It will come with new responsibilities that will require more resources and appropriate planning.
Another agency that will be affected by the policy is the probation agency. This agency is involved in helping these youth as they traverse the legal system and when they are in the juvenile. They will be included in the implementation as they will coordinate with other agencies in identifying the best way to help these youth increase their future life success. The officers in the probation agency come in contact with the dual status youth more frequently and this puts them at the forefront to understand the needs of these youth. The agency will have to ready to implement the new policy that will see them collaborate with other stakeholders to reach the best recommendation for helping the dual status youth improve their future life outcome. Education officials will also be affected by the policy as they will be required during the implementation to help identify the best way to help the Dual Status Youth get education that will have a positive change in their lives. The child service organization will also be affected as it will be involved in making various recommendations that will help improve the positive life outcome of the youth as well as tracking the system to ensure they do not commit further crimes. Lawyers who represent the Dual Status Youth in court and judges who handle the cases will all be impacted by the policy because they will be part of the implementation team to recommend better ways to help the Dual Status Youth.
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Available Data and Research
Research Studies
Vidal et al. (2017) address the transition of the child from the welfare into the juvenile system. The study examines how child neglect and mistreatment can lead the child to get into risky behaviors that could cause him/her being taken to the juvenile. The environment in which a child is brought up and the kind of care and support they receive is essential in determining their future success life. It is therefore important for the community to collaborate with other stakeholders and ensure that children pass through system and guidance that can help them transition back to the community and live a healthy life. The article is useful for the policy implementation because it examines the factors that expose youth to risky behaviors and then goes ahead to identify mechanisms to help youth in the juvenile transition back to the community and live a positive life.
According to Ryan, Williams and Courtney (2013), youth in the juvenile have high risk of recidivism due to many risk factors that they face. In their article, the authors examine the risk factors that lead to high risks of youth being taken to the juvenile. They also identify the best strategies that can be used to help the youth in juvenile avoid recidivism and develop a positive behavior change. Ryan, Williams and Courtney (2013) further provides an analysis of the way child welfare system can work together with the schools, families, community, peers, and youth to help the children in juvenile and child welfare system develop good conduct. Collaboration between all the stakeholders is necessary to ensure that such risky factors are minimized. The information is important for the implementation of the policy because it provides the importance of collaboration between the community, schools, families and child welfare systems to help provide the best recommendations that can best help the children succeed in life.
Public Information Websites
According to the National Academic Press (2018), collaboration between all the interested parties in the society can help transform the children and make them have a positive life. It provides important information on how to deal with children in juvenile and children welfare and help them get education and support that can help them becomes successful in their lives. The most important information provided is that the collaboration between the families, society, schools, and government, as well as private agencies, can help come with the best strategy to promote the education of these youth and help them grow.
The most important information in this website that can help in the implementation of the policy is the statement that involved agencies need to redesign the juvenile justice and the children welfare systems. According to NJJN (2018), redesigning the juvenile justice and cjildren welfare will help to eliminate the mazes by blocking the entrances as well as creating a clear pathway out of the system. It ensure that youth who enter can exit and move on with their lives as successful members of the community. Furthermore, it will require modification of the juvenile and child welfare system so that more stakeholders including family, schools, community, social workers and other agencies are involved.
Us et al. (2018) provide information on the need to have the partnership in the move to help the Dual Status Youth improve their life outcome. Collaboration between the families, community as well as government and non-government organization can provide crucial mechanisms that can help improve the lives of the Dual Status Youth. This can be done by having each partner presenting their recommendations on the best way to help these youth grow positively.
The most significant information provided by Trovall (2018) is that in a collaborative system, the juvenile probation officers, the child protective service, community, schools, and social workers must share the information and keep track of each of the kids in such systems to ensure that they are helped. This information is significant in the implementation of the policy because it also needs collaboration.
Agency Data
The agency involved in the implementation of the policy that might need certain data is the social work. Under the new policy, they need to understand what roles they will be playing and what challenges they are most likely to face. According to Locke (2017), social workers face the challenges of multiple roles, role limitation, dual status youth behavior. They have to reorganize their work so that they are able to play their part in the implementation of the policy effectively. Collecting such information will, therefore, help the social workers understand their role under the new policy and adjust accordingly. Another agency that needs data on the implementation of the program is the children welfare agency. Because they are concerned with the welfare of the children and the dual status youth. The agency therefore needs data on how the new program will be implemented and the role they will be required to play.
Additional Data and Research Gap
The research gaps exist in the feedback mechanisms that can be used to identify if the policy is meeting its objective. There is very little research on the way the implementers can know that the program is helping the youth to become successful in their future lives. This information is necessary for the implementers of this policy because they need to know how they are progressing. Program evaluation is one of the most essential steps to achieving the success of any program. Without the right data addressing the evaluation procedure, it becomes difficult for the implementers to understand whether they are successful or not. There is very limited data touching on the best way to evaluate and understand whether the program is successful or not. This limitation of the information is therefore a gap that needs to be filled if the stakeholders in the implementation process are to receive any positive outcome.
Data obtained through Informant Interviews
The interview was conducted using a phone call where a few questions were asked. The interviewees were Mr. Smith, an officer at Los Angeles County Probation agency in California and Mrs. Hannah, an officer at the Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles County, California State.
The questions asked included the following:
What is your view concerning the impacts of the AB-1911 on the lives of the Dual Status Youth?
Do you think it will have any impact on you as the implementers?
When asked about his view on the impacts that AB-1911 policy will have on the lives of the Dual Status Youth, Mr. Smith said, “I think this policy will have a great positive impact on the lives of the Dual Status Youth. Through this coordination, it will ensure that the juvenile probation officers, the child protective service, community, schools, and social workers must share the information and keep track of each of the kids in such systems to ensure that they are helped get education and transition back to the community.” Mrs. Hannah on the same question stated that such a policy would help the Dual Status youth from the double tragedy they get for being members of the two agencies. Asked on the impact that the policy will have on the agency as the implementer, Mr. Smith stated that the probation agency would have to realign itself so that it can effectively implement the policy. He mentions that its implementation will not come without challenges as it is usually in the case of a new policy, but the probation agency is well prepared. Mr. Smith further aged that coordination is the best way to solve social issues in the community because when people come and reason together, the best solution will always come out. Mrs. Hannah, on the other hand, said that policy would affect how they relate with other involved stakeholders and their operations as well. She stated that a few realignments would be necessary to increase the success of the policy. “We will have to rearrange ourselves so that we can fit into the new program because it will come with new responsibilities,” she said.
When I asked Mr. Smith the kinds of agencies and organizations he thinks will be most affected by the new policy, he responded that all the organizations and agencies involved would be affected. He mentioned social workers, educators, judges, lawyers, and the health welfare agencies like the ones that will be directly impacted by the new policy. Mr. Smith stated that due to changes in the responsibility and a few procedures within the old system, it will be necessary to have every stakeholder realign itself in readiness for the new responsibilities ahead. On the same question, Mrs. Hannah mentions the same agencies like the one that will be impacted by the new policy. She stated that unless each agency makes itself ready to implement the new policy, there would be several barriers which could affect its success. She therefore suggests that it will be necessary to create collaboration and build trust between the stakeholders in a way that will ensure that there is open communication. With this, she says, there will be more success chances for the policy. “Realignment will be necessary because there are new procedures which did not exist initially and this changesadds more responsibilities to the agencies,” Mrs. Hannah said. She further added that when many agencies and organizations work together, there will be more chances of getting the best recommendation. Each agency will provide its recommendation ad when all are put together, the most effective method will be identified and implemented.
Evidence-Based Practice
An evidence-based practice that has been identified to be most effective in implementing the policy is the multisystem therapy. This is an intensive family and community-based treatment program for the youth. This program involves collaboration between the family, community members, social workers, probation officers and all other agencies who are stakeholders in the community matters. The multisystem therapy targets the population within the juvenile and children welfare service agencies with the aim of helping them become successful members of the community, and it focuses on the behavioral and disruptive disorders (California Legislative Information, 2018). This system has been proved to help the dual status youth develop a positive life change and get a smooth transition back to the society. When implemented in the policy, it will involve all the agencies including the social workers, probation officers, children welfare service officers, and all other agencies. These agencies will work in collaboration with each other to track the youth in each of their agencies. This collaboration will ensure that every agency and stakeholder plays a key role in helping improve the lives of the children and make them develop a positive life (Lightbourne, 2017). As a coordinated process between many agencies, each collects relevant information concerning the progress of the youth and tracks them in every agency including the community so that all of them can be taken care of and help to get a smooth transition to the community.
References
California Legislative Information! (2018). AB-1911 Dual status minors (2015-2016). Retrieved from: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1911
LegiScan LLC. (2018). California AB1911 | 2015-2016 | regular session. Retrieved from: https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1911/2015
Lightbourne,W. (2017). Family and juvenile law advisory committee: Dual-status youth data standards working group. California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership, 10, 1-11. Retrieved from: http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/dual_status_youth_resource_binder.pdf
Locke, J. (2017). State approaches to implementing community-based alternatives to incarceration for youth involved in the justice system. Issue brief. National Governors Association. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED583164.pdf
Ryan, J. P., Williams, A. B., & Courtney, M. E. (2013).Adolescent neglect, juvenile delinquency and the risk of recidivism. Journal of youth and adolescence, 42(3), 454-465
Vidal, S., Prince, D., Connell, C. M., Caron, C. M., Kaufman, J. S., & Tebes, J. K. (2017). Maltreatment, family environment, and social risk factors: Determinants of the child welfare to juvenile justice transition among maltreated children and adolescents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 63, 7-18.
NJJN. (2018). Retrieved from: http://www.njjn.org/our-work/dual-status-youth-and-federal-initiatives-snapshot
Us, A., Us, A., Director, W., Director, M., Staff, M., & Us, C. et al. (2018). CJJR, Houston Endowment Partner on Dual-Status Youth Initiative. Retrieved from: http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/news/cjjr-houston-endowment-partner-on-dual-status-youth-initiative
Trovall, E. (2018). New Harris County Collective to Benefit Kids in CPS and Juvenile Justice Systems | Houston Public Media. Retrieved from: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/harris-county/2018/09/17/304473/new-harris-county-collective-to-benefit-kids-in-cps-and-juvenile-justice-systems
