FWSN-advisorybd-repo.. - The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance

and organizations represented include legislators, the judiciary, juvenile justice experts,
child advocates, researchers, private providers and educators.
The Board and its subcommittees have engaged in a year long planning process. The
outcome of this process has been the development of a framework for service delivery
that has a shared goal of diverting children from the court process. The approaches that
are being implemented and are recommended in this report center on research based,
gender specific, developmentally appropriate, culturally competent and community based
strategies to address truancy, disruptive school behavior, running away and other at risk
behaviors exhibited by children in Connecticut.
The FWSN Advisory Board was organized to allow participation and collaboration
around critical areas identified by the Board members. Four separate subcommittees
were formed. The Truancy Subcommittee reviewed practices and programs to address
“truancy and truancy prevention.” The “High End Needs” Subcommittee reviewed issues
related to children who are court involved, have multiple service needs and are at risk of
placement out of their community. A FWSN Statute Drafting Subcommittee was formed
to examine current laws and offer proposed statutory language to accomplish the goals
set forth by the Legislature when it enacted P.A. 05-250 and P.A. 07-4. The Evaluation
Subcommittee was convened to examine “best practice” methods for system and program
level quality assurance, process evaluation, and outcome evaluation. (See Appendix II for
a full roster of FWSN Committee and Subcommittee members)
The FWSN Advisory Board and its subcommittees addressed the immediate tasks of
implementation of P.A. 05-250 and P.A. 07-4, which became effective on October 1,
2007. 6 The Advisory Board received and reviewed recommendations from each of the
subcommittees on short term objectives, action strategies for implementing this
legislation, and long range planning for children and youth. The Advisory Board heard
presentations from the Court Support Services Division (CSSD) of the Judicial Branch,
the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the State Department of Education
(SDE).
The members participated in a national satellite broadcast entitled, “Addressing the
Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families,” produced by the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) U.S. Department of Justice, the
American Bar Association, Commission on Youth at Risk and the Family and Youth
Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Vera Institute of
6 Public Act 05-250, An Act Concerning Children of Families with Service Needs, prohibits a child
adjudicated as a child from a family with service needs from being held in juvenile detention and from
being adjudicated as a delinquent solely for violating a court’s FWSN order.
Public Act 07-04, An Act Implementing the Provisions of the Budget Concerning General Government,
allows a child adjudicated as a FWSN child to be placed under certain orders by the court. If the child
violates a court order regulating future behavior and the court finds that the child poses an imminent safety
risk to him/herself or others and it is determined there is no other less restrictive alternative, the court may
place the child in a staff-secure facility.
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