	Juvenile Justice Corrections Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-JJC 5: Collaboration and Coordination

Collaboration and coordination increase the ability of the agency, community, and system as a whole to supervise and support youth, and promote their chances of succeeding both during and after confinement.

Interpretation: This core concept standard is intended to address the range of organizations and agencies likely to serve or encounter youth who are or may become involved with the juvenile justice system. Relevant organizations, agencies, and other parties to consider include: juvenile court personnel, including judges; probation; parole; law enforcement; prosecution and defense attorneys; child welfare agencies; schools; mental health care providers; substance use treatment providers; medical and health care providers; and community organizations, including parks and recreation services, libraries, cultural institutions, businesses, and faith-based institutions.

Note: Collaboration by nature involves other organizations and agencies, and COA recognizes that there are obvious limits as to how much an individual agency can do. However, agencies are still expected to take steps to encourage the collaboration and coordination that can help promote positive outcomes for youth.

Research Note: Literature emphasizes that youth often have inter-related needs, and suggests that there should be a high level of coordination among organizations and agencies serving youth involved with the justice system. Much of this literature describes initiatives that must be championed and implemented on a large scale, such as developing integrated information sharing systems, adopting cross-system assessment instruments, or creating county-wide interagency teams. However, it also reveals smaller steps individual organizations and agencies can take to promote coordination and collaboration.

PA-JJC 5.01

The agency collaborates with relevant parties, such as the court, to encourage placement of youth into programs that address their risks and needs in the least restrictive environment necessary.

Interpretation: Since a comprehensive range of services must be available for appropriate placements to occur, it may also be important to advocate for the availability of alternative services if they are lacking or inaccessible.

Interpretation: Placement into pre-adjudicatory detention should be based on risks related to safety and failure to appear, not needs. Agencies providing detention services should advocate with appropriate parties to reduce the incidence of unnecessary detention and the length of time youth are detained without services.

PA-JJC 5.02

When youth have needs the agency cannot meet, alternative arrangements are made to deliver appropriate services.

PA-JJC 5.03

The agency collaborates with other organizations and agencies involved with youth to promote the delivery of comprehensive, coordinated services during confinement.

Interpretation: This includes organizations and agencies involved with youth both during and prior to confinement. When youth receive services from other providers while they are confined, the agency should collaborate with those providers to eliminate service duplication and ensure that issues are addressed in a cohesive manner. However, even when an agency provides all services directly, it can still collaborate with relevant court and legal personnel, and any organizations and agencies that may have been involved with youth prior to confinement.

As referenced in PA-CR 2, when information will be shared with other organizations and agencies, youth should be informed of any limits on confidentiality before they disclose information. This may be especially important when the agency serves youth prior to adjudication, and youth might reveal self-incriminating information that could potentially be used against them in legal proceedings.

PA-JJC 5.04

The agency facilitates appropriate collaboration and coordination by identifying laws, regulations, and other requirements governing information sharing and confidentiality, and:

developing procedures and agreements consistent with these requirements; and
training personnel to share information in accordance with the procedures.

Interpretation: When possible, this should include procudures and/or agreements designed to protect youth from self-incrimination. As referenced in PA-JJC 5.03, this may be especially important when agencies serve youth prior to adjudication.

Research Note: Relevant laws, regulations, and other requirements may include federal, state, and local statutes, ordinances, resolutions, regulations, court orders, and legal opinions. These requirements can vary from place to place, and literature acknowledges that issues related to confidentiality and information sharing are complicated. However, it also emphasizes that there are ways to appropriately share information within the legal limitations that exist, and suggests that one of the greatest obstacles to information sharing may be that people do not always understand what they are and are not permitted to share. Accordingly, this literature points to the importance of understanding relevant requirements, and developing procedures and agreements for sharing information appropriately.

PA-JJC 5.05

The agency promotes a more comprehensive understanding of the different organizations, agencies, and systems serving youth by:

educating its personnel about other systems working with the youth they serve; and
educating other organizations and agencies about the juvenile justice system, or advocating for cross training.

PA-JJC 5.06

The agency reaches out to community resources and partners to:

recruit volunteers; and
identify opportunities for youth to become involved with or contribute to the community, when possible and appropriate.

NA The agency provides only detention services.

PA-JJC 5.07

To promote service continuity and facilitate the delivery of aftercare that helps youth maintain gains made during confinement, the agency identifies, reaches out to, and collaborates with organizations and agencies that may serve youth after release.

Interpretation: When another party (such as an aftercare case manager) is primarily responsible for making connections with the providers and resources youth access after release, the agency may implement this standard by partnering with the other party to facilitate reentry planning and follow-up, as referenced in PA-JJC 15 and 16.

Note: Aftercare planning and provision are addressed further in PA-JJC 15 and PA-JJC 16.

Research Note: Literature suggests that aftercare is often compromised by a lack of coordination between corrections personnel and community service providers, and notes that effective aftercare requires collaboration with judges, probation, police, aftercare agencies, schools, and community-based organizations.

NA The agency provides only detention services.

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	PURPOSE: Juvenile Justice Corrections Services promote public safety by helping youth overcome problems and develop the attitudes and skills needed to make responsible choices, avoid negative behaviors, and become productive, connected, and law-abiding citizens.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	CONNECTED The means by which individuals access services that may or may not be provided by the organization itself. These terms are used interchangeably when individuals are connected to services either directly or by referral. See also LINKED.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	CONFIDENTIALITY An ethical and practice principle that requires the protection of information shared within a professional-client relationship. An organization that upholds confidentiality prohibits personnel from disclosing information about persons served without their written consent.


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	VOLUNTEER An individual who performs services for an organization for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons, without promise, expectation, or receipt of compensation for services rendered. Such service must be offered freely and without pressure or coercion, direct or implied, from an employer. If the individual is otherwise employed by the same employer for which s/he volunteers, the individual cannot volunteer to perform the same type of services that s/he is paid to perform as an employee.


	AFTERCARE Additional services provided beyond the period of primary care that offer continuity and supportive follow-up.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.