About Juvenile Justice

The Juvenile Justice area of TFACTS helps you manage activities for delinquent youth such as offenses, predisposition reports, determinate sentence commitments and credit adjustments, classification and reclassification, Individual Program Plans (IPP Individual Program Plan) and reviews, child and family teams, youth disciplinary reports, critical or serious incidents, special caution alerts for a youth, violations reports, Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory© (YLS) assessment,  supervision levels, release requests and discharge (case closure).

Offenses

An offense begins with an allegation or charge. Petitioned offenses are the alleged illegal actions engaged in by a youth that led to the youth’s involvement with the court.  The court determines if the original petitioned offenses lead to an adjudication of delinquency. The original offenses may be changed or dismissed and the court may make findings that the youth committed an offense.  

Offenses can be added to a youth’s record from multiple points including court intake, court actions of pleadings and court orders, and from the JJ participant information in the case. See Record an offense committed by a youth.

If a child who is currently in custody or on probation commits and is found guilty of a new offense, an intake is required because an open case already exists for the child. The worker needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. to add offense and court details to the case. Worker performs a person search, pulls the correct case, then adds details as ordered by the judge.

Predisposition Reports

The juvenile court judge may order DCS to complete a predisposition report prior to the final disposition of a case.  After the youth is adjudicated delinquent the judge may ask for a report to gather information regarding the youth’s background, school performance, behavior, family life, special needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child., etc.  The worker completing the report must enter it into TFACTS.

Determinate Sentence Commitments and Credit Adjustments

Delinquent youth can be committed to DCS for an indeterminate or determinate time period. Youth who receive a determinate commitment are eligible to earn youth commitment reduction credits if they maintain good behavior and make progress on their permanency plan A permanency plan is the actions (or tasks) to be carried out to enable a child who is currently in DCS custody to move into a permanent living arrangement that is free from harm. or IPP Individual Program Plan.  The reduction credits are tracked in TFACTS.

Classification and Reclassification

Classification is a process completed at Youth Development Centers (YDC) following admission of a youth. It includes assessment of the youth by an interdisciplinary team. At the end of the assessment period a classification CFTM CFTM stands for Child and Family Team Meeting. This team is built by DCS to make plans, decisions and recommendations toward achievement of permanency for the children involved. (staffing) is held. The classification and program placement decision shall be completed within 14 calendar days of the date the student arrives at the facility. Each Classification summary staffing report is reviewed and approved by the classification case manager’s supervisor to ensure policy compliance. See Record a classification for a youth.

Reclassification involves the re-evaluation of the treatment needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. and program assignment of a youth when a change in program is considered advisable by a treatment team. See Record a reclassification for a youth.

Individual Program Plans (IPP Individual Program Plan) and Reviews

The Department uses the Individual Program Plan (IPP Individual Program Plan) as a tool to document a treatment plan. An IPP Individual Program Plan is developed for each youth in a DCS Youth Development Center (YDC) or DCS operated group home. The content of an IPP Individual Program Plan is determined within the context of a Child and Family Team meeting and includes:  

• The strengths and needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. of youth and their families

• The provision of services to build on strengths and address needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child.

• The development of success directed goals and objectives

• A continuum of care if needed, aftercare planning, and permanency

Once the initial IPP Individual Program Plan is developed, DCS conducts periodic reviews and updates. See Record an Individual Program Plan for a youth and Record an Individual Program Plan review for a youth.

Child and Family Teams

DCS staff uses the Child and Family Team s to ensure that families and their support systems are engaged in the planning and decision making process throughout their relationship with the Department. The Child and Family Team is convened at certain critical junctures in the case, and it is expected that work with members of the team will be an ongoing process based on the needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. of the child and family.

A Child and Family Team helps DCS staff ensure that families and their support systems are engaged in the planning and decision making process throughout their relationship with the Department. The work of the team is an ongoing process to address the needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. of the child and family.

Youth Disciplinary Reports

Youth who are placed in a YDC facility or DCS group home must follow rules within the treatment program.  Violation of the rules may result in a disciplinary report. If this happens, the staff must record a disciplinary report and track information related to the rule violation. The report must be provided to the youth within 24 hours of being charged and a hearing must be held within 7 days. The youth may waive his right to a hearing and the person initiating the disciplinary report may apply sanctions. See Record a youth disciplinary report.

If the youth does not waive his right to the hearing, the charges are taken before a Hearing Officer. The Hearing Officer will determine if the youth is guilty or not guilty. If the youth is found guilty, a sanction is imposed on the youth.  

The youth may appeal the sanction received as a result of the major disciplinary report. The first level of appeal is the disciplinary committee. The second level is the facility superintendent or director. In certain cases, the youth may appeal to the appropriate Central Office Director for the third and final appeal. See Record an appeal to a youth disciplinary report. The original report decision and all subsequent appeals are filed in the youth’s case record. See View a youth disciplinary report.

Critical and Serious Incident Reports

Incidents involving children or youth are recorded in TFACTS as critical incidents or serious incidents. Critical incidents are those that occur at DCS Youth Development Centers (YDC) and DCS Group Homes. Serious incidents are those that occur at DCS Resource Homes and DCS contract provider agencies.

Reporting incidents promptly and accurately is critical to the daily operation of DCS. All critical and serious incidents are recorded, reviewed, and maintained in TFACTS. See Record a critical or serious incident report.

Workers can search for incident reports for specific facilities and contract provider agencies. See View critical or serious incidents.

Special Caution Alerts

Youth placed in DCS Facilities and Group Homes often have behavioral or mental health issues that require close monitoring by staff. If the youth is suicidal or has other conditions/issues that warrant monitoring, it can be useful to have the system provide a highly visible indicator to alert staff and remind them to monitor the youth. See Create a special caution alert for a youth and Delete a special caution alert.

Violation Reports – Probation and Aftercare Rules

Youth who are on non custodial juvenile justice supervision must follow rules imposed by the court and DCS.  Prior to a delinquent custodial youth returning home, a Release CFTM CFTM stands for Child and Family Team Meeting. This team is built by DCS to make plans, decisions and recommendations toward achievement of permanency for the children involved. is held and the team develops an aftercare plan for the youth.  When the youth leaves custody and returns home, they may be placed on aftercare.  Along with the aftercare plan, Rules of Aftercare are required.  The Rules of Aftercare form can be scanned and attached to the family case.

If a youth violates the Rules of Probation or Rules of Aftercare, the department investigates and records information about the violation.  Minor violation of the rules and corrective action is documented in case recordings.  Major rule violations require that a violation report be completed and filed with the court, if applicable, a petition may be filed.  Violation reports are documented in TFACTS. See Record a violation for a youth, including DCS legal comments and Generate a violation report for the court.

Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory© (YLS) assessments

The YLS is a standardized risk assessment that evaluates the level of risk a delinquent youth poses to the community, and the risk for future delinquent behavior. The YLS identifies risk and needs Needs (formerly referred to as Concerns) are behaviors and risks displayed by the child or family. This should include the reasons for DCS involvement with the family/child. and also identifies strengths and protective factors which may decrease recidivism.  The worker utilizes the results of the YLS in the development of treatment plans.  

Each portion of the YLS has a comments area. When the assessment is approved, the system copies the narrative comments to the Family Functional Assessment (FFA Family Functional Assessment). FFA Family Functional Assessment is the umbrella assessment that pulls in data from other assessments. The system also copies the overall YLS risk score to the FFA Family Functional Assessment. See About Youth Level of Service assessments for more details on YLS assessments.

Supervision Levels

Delinquent youth are supervised based on the level of risk identified in the YLS assessment.  The worker must enter the youth’s level of supervision into TFACTS.  The levels of supervision in TFACTS are Maximum, Medium, Minimum and Inactive.  Policy 13.1, Supervision of Delinquent Youth, was updated in 2009 to align the names of the levels of supervision with the YLS risk levels.  Until this update can be corrected in TFACTS, workers should use the following as a guide when entering supervision levels into TFACTS: use Maximum for Very High and High risk; use Medium for Moderate risk and use Minimum for Low risk.  

Release Request

Before a delinquent youth can be released from DCS custody, approvals must be secured from the Juvenile Court Judge and the Commissioner of DCS.  A release request is entered into TFACTS.  The steps involved in the approval process are entered into TFACTS.   

Discharge (case closure) from Diversion, Probation, and Aftercare after care

In TFACTS you document the recommendation and reviews/approvals for discharge of a juvenile justice youth from diversion, probation, and aftercare. You can also generate a printed copy of the Discharge Recommendation Form (CS-0046).  

The discharge documents that a youth has met the requirements for case closure, and the approval of that discharge by the appropriate authorities. The approvals are documented, but do not require an automated approval process. Discharge records can be deleted after the discharge record shows that it has been submitted to court.

See the following topics:

Record a youth discharge from diversion, probation, or after care

Track the approval for a youth discharge  

Delete a discharge record  

Generate a Discharge Recommendation (Form CS-0046)