December 15, 2000
| Members Present Justice Mary Maring, Chair Chief Chris Magnus Staff Marilyn Moe | Members Absent Rob Olson |
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. The September minutes were approved.
Discussion was held concerning the summary received from Marilyn Roberts, Director of OJP Grant Program, of the weaknesses and strengths of our application for an OJP Implementation Grant. Marilyn Moe went through the weaknesses listed and asked for input in resolving the issues and questions presented by the OJP. We will be applying for this grant again in February of 2001.
The Grand Forks pilot reported they met as a team last week and discussed their program. Discussion focused on Phase III and also on family activities. Each family in the program would receive a camera and be asked to complete and take pictures of two family activities. Also discussed at their meeting was how they could make the participants more responsible for moving to the next Path. As a team they feel that their drug testing is going great.
Grand Forks will have five graduations in January. This will leave two original youths from the starting group. Grand Forks has had one graduation. Deb Davis said that one of their probation officers went out into the community for incentives. They were using some of their gift certificates for the parents involved in the program. They have eleven in the program and three more to be staffed. A licensed treatment center will be located across the street from the Juvenile Court in July 2001.
Judge Deb Kleven described how their youth are coming into their Juvenile Drug Court. First they are ordered by the referee from Juvenile Court into Juvenile Drug Court as part of their probation. Justice Maring asked which kids were being considered. Deb Carlson stated they are mainly coming from the probation officers. They feel more comfortable now that 6 juveniles have completed the program and feel they could take more youth into the program. Most of their participants have been in for their 3rd referral. Marilyn Moe stated that Youth Works has advertised for a coordinator for the Grand Forks drug court.
Fargo Juvenile Drug Court reported that they have three youth in their program, two males and one female. Kris Haycraft, the new coordinator for Fargo, stated things were going very well they are keeping up with the trends. They've had one graduate, a male who was on the honor roll and sang a solo at a recent concert. Dr. Kevin Thompson will continue to evaluate this youth for six months. They are considering forming a support group for the youth in the program. They do have concerns about aftercare once their participants have graduated.
Judge Erickson stated he has some concerns with the number of the kids in their program and also the altering of drug tests. Kris Haycraft stated the new drug tests were purchased to take care of this problem. Other concerns of the Fargo group are time commitment, staffing, and that most of the kids in their program are deep-end kids and that they are getting minimal support from the parents.
Renee Reynolds stated they staffed 18 youth at the beginning of the program and eight opted out. Justice Maring asked if the program is being offered to all who meet the criteria. Birch Burdick stated that the JDC program is being offered to all, and that their youth are being successful in the other programs. Ron Schneider stated there are so many good programs out there that a lot of the kids in Fargo are being caught before they are even brought into court. Mary Hall stated they have 22 youth in treatment at this time and if they slip up they will go right into the Juvenile Drug Court. Judge Erickson stated that he feels that there must be a potential pool of 40 kids out there, and Dr. Thompson stated he thought that there were more like 100. They presently have over 200 youth on probation.
Peter Welte stated the Grand Fork's Court has parent involvement. Fargo said this has been a problem in their court; however, there have been some with no parent participation and the youth are doing okay in the program. Discussion was held on whether the school could make referrals.
A lengthy discussion was held on the youth that are close to 18 years of age. Grand Forks is taking youth in at 17 because this may be their last chance. Mary Hall stated when the program was established that it was to be a voluntary program. There was discussion on this issue.
Discussion was held concerning the JDC Program Manual, and Renee Reynolds stated that they were following it. Kris Haycraft said she had changed some of the forms and she submitted those to Marilyn. It was agreed that anyone who had changes in the manual should submit them to Marilyn and that the language about it being solely a voluntary program needs to be changed along with "anti-social behavior" language criteria.
Judge Erickson requested from those going to Miami that they meet with a representative from Pensacola, FL, and find out whether they deal with their youths, individually or in a group.
Justice Maring asked how the brochures were being used. Fargo stated they have been using them for presentations. Kris Haycraft stated the brochure for the East Central Juvenile Drug Court, states that there are four Paths, but that East Central Juvenile Drug Court has only three Paths in their program. Marilyn Moe will make the appropriate changes in the brochure.
A parents manuals was discussed. The consensus of the committee was the draft from Las Cruces was too long. Judge Erickson will send Marilyn Moe his Power Point Presentation, and she will take information from that for a manual.
Kris Haycraft asked about payment for the tracking. Greg Wallace stated the bills should be sent directly to Lutheran Social Services.
Dr. Kevin Thompson went through his process evaluation that was completed October 15, 2000. He will be doing another report at the end of December 2000.
Marilyn Moe stated the Technical Assistance Team is planning to come in January or February 2001. Ann Wallace, the coordinator at Las Cruces and a rural judge would be coming to Grand Forks. They will be there for a Thursday and Friday and will spend Thursday with the NEC team and Friday with NEC and EC teams. Dates for this visit were discussed by the committee members. Topics that our court would like to see discussed are incentives and sanctions, team building, and what other alternatives there are to detention.
Greg Wallace discussed the incentive limit which is $10 per child, which was budgeted, and whether we need an amendment for a higher per child rate. Greg agreed to write a letter on that issue. It was the consensus of the group that it should be $50 per child and any other incentives should be sought from the community. Everyone received a copy of the amounts that have already been spent on the incentives.
A copy of the Bryne Grant and Underage Drinking Grant budget was distributed to everyone present.
Melody Peterson stated some concern as to where we were with our drug testing costs. Marilyn Moe agreed to get a total on that item.
Discussion was held on making a video of the JDC. Discussion was held on the importance of having a video for presentations. Birch Burdick and Ron Schneider suggested contacting Moorhead State and Concordia College for prices.
Deb Davis stated that on September 12 and 13, 2001, an Alcohol and Drug Summit will be held in Bismarck and that Justice Maring has been asked to be the moderator. Deb asked if there was anyone from the teams that would agree to be on the panel and said that she would be contacting them closer to the time.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 23, 2001, at the Radisson Hotel in Fargo.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.