Changes on the Horizon in Sonoma County

Recommendations for Improvement

The IOYouth report identifies strategies for how the probation department and other youth-serving agencies in Sonoma County can collaboratively address the assessment findings to improve youth outcomes. Among others, these recommendations include

• Partnering with law enforcement and community-based service providers to expand pre- and post-arrest diversion opportunities, with the goal of reducing racial and geographic disparities;
• Using graduated responses and incentives that are proportional to youth behavior, equipping probation officers to promote behavior change among the youth they supervise, and tailoring supervision conditions to move toward a more developmentally appropriate model of juvenile probation;
• Creating a continuum of effective community-based programming and developing policies and processes to better match youth to the most appropriate services based on their individual needs; and
• Engaging families meaningfully across the juvenile justice continuum by including them in case planning and treatment team meetings and creating opportunities for families to provide input and feedback regarding youths’ experience in the system.

The probation department, working alongside its partners, will now work to craft detailed action plans, timelines, and budget proposals to turn the recommendations resulting from the IOYouth analysis into concrete policy, practice, and resource-allocation changes.

Photo credit: Eliott Reyna via Unsplash