Rethinking Systems to Tackle Truancy

1. Rethinking systems to tackle truancy
Vidhya Ananthakrishnan
Vera Institute of Justice
Jodi Martin
Clark County Juvenile Court

2. Background

3. What are Status Offenses?
• Status Offenses: Non-criminal behaviors prohibited by
law only because of an individual’s status as a minor
• These include truancy, running away, incorrigibility,
liquor law violations, and curfew violations
• Also known as:
 Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS)
 Children in Need of Services (CHINS)
 Conduct Indicating a Need for Supervision (CINS)
 Families in Need of Services (FINS)
 Families with Service Needs (FWSN)

4. Status Offenses: The History
• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
(JJDPA) of 1974 prohibited secure detention or locked
confinement for youth charged with status offenses
• A 1980 amendment to the JJDPA included the Valid
Court Order (VCO) exception, giving judges the option
of placing status offenders in locked detention
• While many states prohibit or do not use the VCO
exception, 27 continue to use it in status offense cases

5. National Estimates of Petitioned Cases
Curfew
Violations
10%
Drinking
Alcohol
20%
RunningAway
9%
Incorrigibility
12%
Other
9%
Truancy
40%
Status Offenses Cases in Court (2011): >116,000

6. Why is truancy reform needed?
Despite the noncriminal nature of truancy, national
estimates for 2011 show:
• > 2000 detentions
• > 1000 out of home
placements

7. Causes for Skipping School?
• Logistics
•Missing the bus
• Caring for younger siblings
• Transitions in school/home
• Access to resources
• School Anxiety
• Relationship difficulties,
•Mental health issues
•Response to academic
expectations from self, parents
or school

8. Why is truancy reform needed?
• Court based approaches do not work!
• Cost of system involvement is high
• More effective alternatives exist

9. What System Change
Looks Like

10. Slide 10 •June 12, 2015
Promising Approaches to Truancy
4
IDEAS

11. Slide 11 •June 12, 2015
SORC Resources

12. Slide 12 •June 12, 2015
Toolkit Module 1: Structuring System Change
•Step 1: Identify and
Recruit Stakeholders
•Step 2: Prepare
Stakeholders for System
Change Work

13. Slide 13 •June 12, 2015
Toolkit Module 2: Using Local Information to
Guide System Change
•Step 1: System assessment
•Step 2: Review policies
•Step 3: Quantitative data
•Step 4: Qualitative data
•Step 5: Local service capacity
•Step 6: Analyze the data

14. Slide 14 •June 12, 2015
Toolkit Module 3: Planning and Implementing
System Change
•Step 1: Find promising examples
•Step 2: Set priorities
•Step 3: What are your aspirations?
•Step 4: Design the reform
•Step 5: Implement it!

15. Slide 15 •June 12, 2015
Toolkit Module 4: Monitoring and Sustaining
System Change
•Step 1: Monitor performance
•Step 2: Process evaluation
•Step 3: Outcome evaluation
•Step 4: Sustain positive change

16. Clark County Truancy Process
A partnership between
Educational Service District 112,
Clark County School Districts, and
Clark County Juvenile Court
Jodi Martin
Clark County Juvenile Court

17. Truancy Reform in Clark County
• 1997 – Created the Clark County Truancy
Project in response to Washington State’s
Truancy Law, the Becca Bill
• 2009 – Developed early interventions,
outside of court, in response to Court of
Appeals ruling on Bellevue v. ES

18. Models for Change
Models for Change enabled Clark County
to evaluate and enhance the local truancy
process

19. Our Research
• ACEs Study – WSU Vancouver (March
2009)
• Process Evaluation of CCTP – Vera Institute
of Justice (July 2010)
• Qualitative Study of Truancy Court – AOC
(Spring 2010)
• Outcome Evaluation – WSU Vancouver
(January 2013)

20. Based on Research Findings and
Recommendations, Clark County…
 Developed the Clark
County Truancy
Workshop
 Created Probation and
Mentoring Intervention
 Widened the net of
partners to include
representation from
DCFS, mental health and
substance abuse
agencies.
 Implemented screening
tools to assess the mental
health and substance abuse
needs of truant youth.
 Increased parental
involvement by offering
The Parent Project, a
nationally recognized
parent training program.

21. The Process
(Yellow indicates areas developed or enhanced as part of MfC)

22. The Process (cont.)

23. 2013-2014
• 725 Truancy Petitions Filed
• 376 Youth and Families attended the
workshop
• 81 Intervention Orders filed

24. Three Levels of Intervention/SupportWorkshops
• Presentation
• Provide
resource
information
to youth and
families
• Fast Track
youth to
CCTP
services
TruancyProject
• MAYSI-2
• Develop plan
• Refer to
services
• Monitor
attendance
• Offer classes
and
activities
• Truancy
Boards
CourtIntervention
• Intensive
Case
Management
• Mentors
• WARNS
• Court
ordered
assessments
and testing

25. Truancy Workshop Process
• Court Commissioner welcomes families. School
Districts, ESD112 and Juvenile Court Staff provide
a presentation on the Becca Bill, truancy process,
attendance policies and the importance of
education.
• Each family meets individually with their school
district representative to develop a plan for re-
engagement and complete paperwork.
• Families are provided information on local
agencies and service providers.

26. Truancy Process Triangle

27. Survey Results
Parents and youth are benefitting from workshops.
What was the most important part of the workshop
for you?
 “knowing that the community cares”
 “meeting with district rep and knowing there are
other options.”
 “understanding the process and ... to know
people are here to help”
 “for my child to understand that he has a chance
to make better choices and of the consequences if
he does not”

28. Clark County Truancy Project
The Truancy Project seeks to intervene with truant youth
and their families to provide them a positive way to return
to school and increase student achievement.
Case management activities include:
• Communicate with school staff and receive regular
attendance reports
• Check in regularly with students to discuss progress
• If student is withdrawn or not attending, Truancy
Project will conduct home visits

29. Clark County Truancy Project (cont’d)
• Staff have access to school and court databases to
monitor and document youth’s progress.
• MAYSI 2 – The Massachusetts Youth Screening
Instrument
Resources and Referrals may include:
o Individual and Family Counseling
o Drug and alcohol assessments/treatment
o Parenting classes/teen parenting programs
o Community social service agencies
o Students may be referred to a Community Truancy
Board

30. Clark County Truancy Board
• The Board members help create an attendance
agreement aimed at improving student’s
attendance.
• An agreement is created for both the parent
and student
• The board provides families the opportunity to
work with concerned community members in
an effort to avoid a return to court

31. Court Intervention
• 50 youth on Active Intervention Orders – Formally
ordered to attend school- Referred to Juvenile
Court for Intervention
• Provide Intensive Case Management Services to
Students and Families
• One Juvenile Court Probation Officer paired with
mentors/interns

32. • Access to WARNS (Washington Assessment of
Risks and Needs of Students) to assess needs and
barriers
• Regularly review and staff cases with CCTP and
School District Representative
• Bring students back to Court on Reviews and
Contempt process, if needed.

33. Sustaining Reforms
• Ongoing training for truancy stakeholders
on the philosophy, process and
interventions
• Working within the JDAI initiative to
provide alternative sanctions for Contempt
process
• Pooling resources

34. Outcomes
• 2011/2012 – Only 58 of the 576 truancy petitions
filed resulted in a formal intervention order
compared to 252 out of 644 in 2008/2009.
• Truancy Project youth were significantly less likely
to have further involvement with the juvenile justice
system.
• In the first 2 years of the workshop, 95% of parents
and 93% of youth found the workshop helpful.

35. www.statusoffensereform.org
Questions?
Contact Information:
Vidhya Ananthakrishnan: vananthakrishnan@vera.org
Jodi Martin: jodi.martin@clark.wa.gov
•Vera’s Status Offense Reform Center
@SOreformcenter