The Texas Conference of Urban Counties (CUC) TechShare.Juvenile team and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) recently completed work to provide specific staff members with read-only access to JCMS.Basic, a statewide juvenile case management system. This effort began with TJJD Executive Director, David Reilly, who recognized the benefits that the system would bring to state facility staff members working with youth who are committed to TJJD, and he requested that the TechShare team help make this a reality. In February 2015, TJJD rolled out Phase I of a multi-phased project to provide institutional staff with access to JCMS.Basic.
When youth are committed to the custody of the state, an intensive assessment process begins immediately to determine the youth’s risks, needs, and criminogenic factors. Having access to comprehensive information from various sources about these children is fundamental to making informed decisions about their placement, treatment, and overall rehabilitation. Now—for the first time—intake staff at TJJD can access the treatment records of a youth from every county juvenile probation department using JCMS.Basic or TechShare.Juvenile. This holistic approach is invaluable to staff who develop an individualized treatment plan for every child.
JCMS.Basic is currently live in 223 counties (and counting) across Texas—that’s nearly 90% of the state. There are an average of 1,731 users in the system each day (3,100 total) with access to 1,089,826 juvenile records throughout the state. This aids TJJD staff tremendously during the assessment process of a youth that’s been committed to the custody of the state.
Since Phase I was introduced, TJJD institutional staff are benefiting from access to:
- Juvenile Probation Department’s Documentation required for the intake orientation and assessment stage.
- View all programs and residential placements provided by the local probation departments statewide. This information allows staff to make better-informed decisions regarding institutional placement and treatment needs.
- Juvenile behavioral health information, including psychological testing, diagnosis, IQ scores, risk and needs assessments, service referrals, and treatment services provided.
- Chronological notes documented by probation staff during the juveniles’ history with the Probation Department, which provides assessment staff with insight about a youth and family that without JCMS they would never access.
Phase II, tentatively scheduled in May 2015, will incorporate the Probation and Community Services Division, including staff within the following departments: Title IV-E, Special Needs Diversionary Program, Financial Grants, and Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP). Phase III, scheduled for Fiscal Year 2016, incorporates the Monitoring and Inspections Division.
While there’s no doubt that the staff strongly benefit from having access to JCMS.Basic, the real winners here are the kids. Decisions about a youth’s treatment and rehabilitative needs that can be made by leveraging comprehensive information will yield the most positive outcomes—and that’s a solution that’s good for kids.
A special thanks to Lisa Capers and TJJD staff for contributions to this article.