Intervention Principles and Practice Guidelines for - Underage ...

Practice Guideline 8
Engage family and social networks of support in the supervision process.
One of the principles for evidence-based practice in community corrections recommends engaging
ongoing support in natural communities (Crime and Justice Institute, 2004). Family and social networks
are the most influential and powerful context in which all of us—including youth and young adults—
exist. The coordination of social networks is also one of the goals specified in Call to Action (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 2007) to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Studies
have consistently shown that informal agents of control (e.g., family and social networks) are more
powerful than formal agents of control (e.g., probation, parole, law enforcement) in helping those
under community supervision achieve and maintain behavior change (Petersilia, 2003; Sampson, 1988;
Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Therefore, if supportive individuals can be recruited to provide positive
feedback for desired behavior, there is a much stronger probability that the young person will be
successful in changing his or her behavior (Crime and Justice Institute, 2004).
Parents and legal guardians of youth under age 18 have a legal obligation and responsibility to
financially support and supervise their children. Therefore, community corrections professionals
should make sure that they become involved in the supervision process on some level. At a minimum,
this may mean parents or legal guardians must agree and sign forms allowing their child to participate
in a diversion program or attend their child’s court hearing. Other times, depending on what type
of program or system-level response has been imposed upon the youth, parents may be required to
be directly or indirectly involved in programming or services with their child (e.g., family counseling,
parenting classes). Some parents and legal guardians participate willingly, while others do so with less
enthusiasm or only through coaxing or requirement by the court.
It is important to realize, however, that family and community support is no less needed or
important for young adults between ages 18 and 21. The ways that family and social controls can be
activated will differ among jurisdictions for this subset of young people because they are considered in
many respects to be adults. After an individual reaches age 18, there is no longer the legal requirement
that parents financially support and otherwise supervise their children. There is, however, usually
a social expectation that they do so. For example, colleges and universities have grappled with the
practice of parental notification when an underage student is involved in drinking alcohol. Parental
notification is becoming a more common practice as part of a campaign to increase monitoring of
college students, and limited research has indicates this has proved somewhat effective in reducing
high-risk drinking behavior and associated disciplinary problems (Bonnie & O’Connell, 2004). EBP
principles indicate that working with adult offenders to help them identify and leverage the support of
their families and social networks can be beneficial for reinforcing positive change and, in the case of
young adults with substance abuse problems, for preventing relapse.
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