Clark County explores assessment center to serve troubled youth
Keeping at-risk youth out of the juvenile justice system requires early intervention, said county officials who are making strides toward establishing an assessment center to connect children and teens with the help they need.
The assessment center would refer at-risk youth to services such as counseling, mental health programs, substance abuse treatment and emergency housing.
“Are there resources that exist that can keep the community safe and also keep these kids out of the system and keep them safe and better off?” asked John “Jack” Martin, director of the Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services, on Thursday. “Research demonstrates that the quicker we can assess a child’s needs and connect that child and family to resources,” the better off we are in the long run.
A centralized assessment center would consist of a partnership between the Clark County departments of Family Services, Social Services, Juvenile Justice and service providers that come into contact with children, teens and young adults in crisis, according to Family Services spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan.
In October, the Family Services received a federal two-year $700,000 planning grant to address homelessness among juveniles and young adults. That grant is being used to lay the groundwork for an assessment center. All grant-related programs require federal review and approval.
The idea is in the early stages as officials work to determine community needs and how each partner fits into the conversation, Jourdan said.
Family Services has the option to apply for an additional $1 million a year for five years, and the department plans to apply for the additional money once a proposal is formed.
Martin began to delve into the idea of an assessment center about a year ago. He looked at various models and visited an assessment center in Portland, Ore.
But he said there’s still a lot more planning to do.
“We are still really at the due diligence phase,” he said.
Officials are looking at what model would fit Las Vegas and how much it would cost.
Also, they are doing an inventory of resources available in the community and sitting down with providers to see if they would be willing to be involved.
“There’s a couple of avenues that I would like to explore,” Martin said. “If it fits and (Family Services) agrees, I think this can be a nice vehicle.”
Juvenile Justice and Family Services serve a crossover population. The population served by Family Services and Social Services includes more of the homeless, he said.
Martin is staying alert for other grant and partnership possibilities should Family Services decide to go in a different direction. Both agencies serve a similar population, but they also face different issues.
“I would hate to limit myself to one grant,” he said. “Especially when it’s not my grant.”
Earlier this month, Clark County Commissioner Susan Brager expressed frustration with the lack of progress on the assessment center during a public meeting.
“We just talk a lot,” she said. “It’s been eight years, and we’ve lost kids.”
Brager said she would be willing to approach donors to make it happen.
“It’s time to do it,” she said. “These are our children.”
It’s about spending money up front to save money in the long run, Clark County Family Court Judge William Voy said. If enough people at the table think it’s a good idea, “It’s going to happen,” he said Wednesday.
For example, domestic violence involving adults is different from incidents that involve adolescents. Adults can separate and receive counseling, but a child can’t divorce a parent.
In domestic violence cases involving a parent and child, the child would be taken to the assessment center where the problem would be explored and services could be provided, Voy said.
“It’s like crisis intervention,” he said. And it’s “fixing the case without bringing them into the system. Every time we divert one from the system, we are helping the county save money.”
Arash Ghafoori, executive director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said he applauds any efforts that will keep youth out of the legal system. Sometimes youth commit crimes because they are in survival mode and they have no alternative, he said.
“I think we definitely need tools in our community to help youth who could potentially become adjudicated have a diversion route,” he said Friday.
He just hopes that the project would bring together existing resources in the community under one umbrella to “preserve the efforts that already exist” in the community and not create a duplication of services.
“It’s critical that the community realize the importance of investing in youth in all shapes and forms,” he said.
“We really need to come together and look at everything that we have on the ground and how we can mobilize them.”
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro.
