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Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems Integration Initiative
CWLA established the Juvenile Justice Division in 2000 through the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Over the past six years, CWLA has developed the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems Integration Initiative. The initiative provides consultation and technical assistance to juvenile justice, child welfare, relevant youth-serving organizations and agencies, and CWLA member agencies regarding the connection between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency, and need for an integrated approach to programs and services across the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
CWLA has developed tools and resources that assist state and local jurisdictions in a four-phase framework for strategic planning designed to improve outcomes for dual jurisdiction youth and families who populate multiple youth systems:
- Mobilization and Advocacy, which includes
- assessment of political and environmental readiness for systems reform,
- identification of and commitment to strategic goals and objectives of the collaboration, and
- identification of and address sticking points which act as barriers to teamwork.
- Study and Analysis, which includes
- data collection, management, and performance measurement (for example, establishing governance for data collection, identifying necessary aggregate data reports, developing procedures for use of reports, and considering development of an integrated information sharing system);
- inventory and assessment (for example, inventorying program and fiscal resources, common screening, and assessment instruments; identifying key decision points and decision-makers; reviewing "best practices" or "evidence-based strategies"; and identifying potential for blending funds); and
- legal and policy analysis (for example, examining and analyze statutory, regulatory, formal, and informal policies, procedures, and protocols; clarifying laws, regulations, and policies that affect systems collaboration and information sharing; and identifying data sharing impediments and determine capacity to share information).
- Action Strategy Development, which includes
- identifying priorities for all program, service, and administrative components;
- developing priorities for an action agenda; and
- developing funding mechanisms necessary to support integrated approaches.
- Implementation, which includes
- agreement on timelines, phasing, milestones, and task assignment; and
- outcome evaluation with incremental measurement.
The goal is to develop improved cross-system coordination and integration through implementation of reformed statutes, policies, procedures, protocols, and practices. The focus within a state or local jurisdiction can be in areas of (1) coordination of data and data reports, (2) information sharing and management, (3) case planning and management, (4) consolidation of resources, and (5) analysis of legal mandates and policies, all designed to improve outcomes for these dual jurisdiction and/or multisystem children, youth, and families.
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