OJJDP Family Listening Sessions: Executive Summary - Office of ...

guards victimized their children and parents lost all of their parental rights to affect decisions
about their children once they entered the system. The solution implemented to assure the safety
of youth imprisoned in adult facilities—placing the youth in solitary confinement—often had
detrimental psychological effects. The participants reported that adult prisons do not offer
adequate health care or educational opportunities for youth unless parents pay for these services.
Better Support for Rehabilitation by Juvenile Detention Systems
Experiences within the juvenile detention system seemed to vary from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction. Positive experiences usually resulted from parents seeking and cultivating allies
within the system, which could be inconsistent, time consuming, and often emotionally draining.
Participants repeatedly cited continued education while in the system as critical to youth and
parents. They also identified improved treatment of health care issues, including mental health
disorders, as an urgent concern. Parents also identified safety as a high priority issue, especially
when children detained for minor, nonviolent offenses were integrated with youth incarcerated
for more serious offenses.
Family members reported positive outcomes when their children were involved with alternative
and/or community-based programs, such as the Bridge City Program (see sidebar on page 4).
Support programs for parents at the detention or training facility are highly recommended and
would also improve the communication issues cited earlier. Family members also agreed that
effective, evidence-based programs should be duplicated in every state. The Missouri Model was
cited as an example (see page 5).
More Flexibility in Intensive Probation
The intensive probation system was referenced only during the Family Listening Session for
Tribal Youth (see chapter 4). Because of the intense demands placed on the youth and families in
this type of community-based system, families suggested lessening the requirements probation
officers imposed during their unscheduled home visits. Parents found the requirements of
intensive probation, coupled with their normal daily responsibilities, to be overwhelming and felt
that they, too, were on probation with their children as a result. Parents and guardians also felt
strongly that more support programs and classes for the parents would benefit families.
Themes Based on the Families’ Experiences With the System
In addition to the themes in the previous sections, families from all of the sessions confirmed that
the following system improvements are needed.
Remove Visitation Barriers
Ensuring that family members have access to children in the system is vital. Withholding
visitation rights as a form of punishment for the child, which also punishes parents, should be
abolished. Better communication between system officials and family members and an improved
quality of information for parents about visitation schedules, policies, and procedures should be a
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