Every year, convicted juvenile offenders are released into society after serving their sentences and completing treatment programs. However, some statistics suggest that many juveniles return to their communities only to commit more crimes.

While there are many programs focused on juvenile rehabilitation, officials at Indiana's Porter County Juvenile Court realized that they could lower juvenile recidivism by increasing community support. Using a $250,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Correction, the court and the Family and Youth Services Bureau created a re-entry program with a new twist, one that bridged the gap between recently released juveniles and the communities they return to.

“These kids are released and, sometimes, the community is hostile to them,” says Dennis Morgan, Executive Director of the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB). “I believe the community – not maliciously – tends to label these kids when they come back. We know certainly that research shows over 70 percent of kids who have been incarcerated are going to find themselves behind bars again, and we think asking the community to help with rehabilitation can lower those numbers.”

In creating the program, officials decided to focus on juveniles at a high-risk to re-offend, specifically those who have been sentenced to residential treatment homes. Operated by the FYSB, the program plans to work with 30 youths this year, and is depending on mentors from the community to help them transition.

“If we can become successful in mobilizing the community to help these juveniles, we'll be doing something terribly important,” Morgan says. “The way we look at it, if these kids continue to offend and re-offend, it presents a very real danger for our community. What's really pushing this whole thing was seeing kids come back from placement and, essentially, fail. We need to have a more positive community reception to these juveniles.”

Mentors Give Youths a Hand

In order to foster a better relationship between the community and young offenders, the program, which will launch in March, will offer counseling, job placement, and mentors for each juvenile. According to Morgan, mentors can become a vital part of the rehabilitation process.

“We know how important the mentor aspect of this is,” Morgan says. “In fact, I think it's really well-documented in recidivism literature that what helps kids the most is having a positive relationship with an adult, in addition to their parents. Kids that have a strong adult presence in their lives are typically able to withstand the pressures of life more than kids that don't.”

Morgan adds that officials know how difficult finding and matching mentors and juveniles can be. Therefore, they will re-double their efforts to find mentors, advertising the program throughout the community in newspapers and men's and women's groups.

“It's difficult to find mentors or people who are willing to spend this time with kids,” Morgan says. “Many people are truly busy. But there are others that are just afraid of these kids and afraid to get involved. But this is exactly where the community needs to step in and help us rehabilitate these juveniles. We want to make good use of resources that are already available in our community.”

While the program is still recruiting mentors, Morgan says that it should start accepting juveniles within a month.

“Right now, there are no stringent requirements for eligibility,” Morgan says. “We've been developing this program for some time, and we were pleased to find support from the DOC. And as far as the DOC is concerned, focusing on juveniles when they come out of rehabilitation homes is truly prevention.”

Focusing on Family

In addition to providing mentors and support, the program will focus on keeping lines of communication open between incarcerated juveniles and their family members. According to Morgan, it's very important for families to use time away from each other to make positive changes.

“Someone from our office and the juvenile court will be visiting with the family and the child while they are incarcerated,” Morgan says. “There is a real change in dynamics when a child leaves the house, either temporarily or permanently. We want to capitalize on communication and use that time away to encourage good relationships for when the kids return.”

By helping juveniles re-connect with their families and renew their relationships prior to release, Morgan says the program will hopefully reduce tensions within households when the youths return home. Moreover, Morgan says the program is focusing heavily on individualized treatment for the young offenders.

“One of the most important factors for us to take into account is to tailor the services we offer to the needs of an individual child or family,” Morgan says. “Everything needs to be different for each person involved. We will do whatever assessment necessary to determine what services would be most appropriate for each child. This absolutely will not be a one-size-fits-all kind of thing.”

Morgan believes that when the community helps its own to become truly rehabilitated and reconnected, everyone wins. 

“There are a number of people that will be served by this program – not the least of which is the entire community – and many people will truly be served if we can do it well. Our community is resource rich – we just have to make sure that this program helps everyone in the community, especially our young offenders,” he said.