Washington, D.C. — Two of the nation’s leading organizations helping young people in the foster care and juvenile justice systems have joined forces to improve the lives of at-risk youth. The Georgetown University Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) and Casey Family Programs have formed a three-year partnership to test innovative ideas that can improve and reform America’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Child abuse and neglect are associated with earlier onset of juvenile crime. Research shows this factor increases a juvenile’s risk of arrest for a violent crime by 96 percent.
“The child welfare and juvenile justice systems are charged with caring for our most vulnerable children,” said William C. Bell, president and CEO, Casey Family Programs. “This partnership will help them explore new ways to improve the lives of children and families.”
The partnership begins with the first Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) ever held between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. A BSC is a way to test and spread ideas leading to rapid improvement. The BSC method started in health care. It is now used in child welfare. Public agency leaders from across the country can apply to participate starting in March. The BSC begins with a week-long certificate program at CJJR. Participants receive a professional certificate from Georgetown when they complete the program.
The BSC teams will then select an issue jointly facing the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. In a yearlong process, the teams test ideas, strategies, and tools on a small scale in their pilot sites. At the same time, they share findings with other teams on the Internet, phone conferences and three two-day meetings.
“The Center will provide leaders in both fields with a greater understanding of the key principles involved in a multi-systems reform agenda,” says Shay Bilchik, director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University. “And these leaders will learn how to move forward in a more comprehensive and integrated approach to improvements to support children, youth and families."
As the partnership launches, CJJR will host the symposium "The Overrepresentation of Children of Color in America's Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems” on March 14, 2008 in Washington, D.C. In May, CJJR and Casey Family Programs will jointly produce a research paper and sponsor a conference with the American Public Human Services Association and The Johnson Foundation. The paper and conference will discuss multi-systems approaches in child welfare and juvenile justice.
“It is evident that children and youth in foster care and children served by the juvenile justice system experience numerous challenges in their lives,” says Timothy Barbari, Associate Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Georgetown University. “The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform made a commitment to provide strong and sustained national leadership when it was created on this issue. We expect that the field of child welfare and juvenile justice and its leadership will be better prepared to serve at-risk youth as a result of this partnership’s multi-systems approach.”
The partnership will also support Casey Family Programs’ 2020 Strategy, which seeks to:
- Safely reduce the number of children in foster care by 50 percent by the year 2020
- Reinvest savings to strengthen families and improve the child welfare system
- Improve the path to self-sufficiency for youth in foster care through a focus on education, employment, and mental health.
To apply to the certificate program and Breakthrough Series Collaborative, please visit CJJR’s Web site and click Certificate Program: http://cjjr.georgetown.edu.
Additional Links
Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and Systems Integration (CJJR) http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/index.html
About Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI)
Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI) offers masters degrees in public policy and policy management. The Institute's emphasis on academic excellence and engagement with the public policy capital of the world solidly prepares students to tackle the most challenging issues facing contemporary society. For more information on GPPI, visit http://gppi.georgetown.edu.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on its three campuses in Washington, DC. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.