Family Engagement in Juvenile Justice Systems:
Building a Strategy and Shifting the Culture
Juvenile justice systems are increasingly recognizing the importance of working with families but often attempt ad hoc approaches that are ineffective and then blame families for their lack of engagement. This tool will help you reflect on the current family engagement approach your agency is using, including the agency’s culture and strategy, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Juvenile justice systems are increasingly recognizing the importance of working with families but often attempt ad hoc approaches that are ineffective and then blame families for their lack of engagement. This tool will help you reflect on the current family engagement approach your agency is using, including the agency’s culture and strategy, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Now, more than ever, courts, probation, and corrections agencies should consider a fundamental shift away from an ad hoc, system-centered approach to a culture and strategy that centers families in supervision and service policies and practices.
System
Centered
- Blame Oriented
- Ad hoc
- Generic
- Obscure
- Under-resourced
Family
Centered
- Supportive
- Comprehensive
- Individualized
- Accountable
- Sustained
System Centered
Unilateral
Removes authority from the family; system actors drive all decision-making, including if, how, when, and why families are engaged.
Family Centered
Empowering
Enables families to shape and drive system decisions, including through family/team meetings, about court decisions, case plans, supervision terms, appointments and services, incentives and sanctions, and who counts as family.
System Centered
Unilateral
Removes authority from the family; system actors drive all decision-making, including if, how, when, and why families are engaged.
Family Centered
Empowering
Enables families to shape and drive system decisions, including through family/team meetings, about court decisions, case plans, supervision terms, appointments and services, incentives and sanctions, and who counts as family.
Q.
How does your juvenile justice agency empower or remove power from families?
What impact does this have on youth’s engagement and success in supervision and services?
System Centered
Blame Oriented
Treats families as a tool or problem to overcome rather than a valued partner. Blames families for engagement challenges rather than considering how the system might be pushing them away.
Family Centered
Supportive
Treats families as partners in the decision-making process, starting with what families want and need to help support their child’s success. Troubleshoots engagement challenges with families together and focuses less on blame than on mutual buy-in and support.
System Centered
Blame Oriented
Treats families as a tool or problem to overcome rather than a valued partner. Blames families for engagement challenges rather than considering how the system might be pushing them away.
Family Centered
Supportive
Treats families as partners in the decision-making process, starting with what families want and need to help support their child’s success. Troubleshoots engagement challenges with families together and focuses less on blame than on mutual buy-in and support.
Q.
What attitudes, feelings, and words do juvenile justice staff and leadership direct toward families?
How does your agency partner with families in a formal way to make shared decisions on dispositional outcomes? Supervision conditions? Case plans? Services? Incentives and graduated responses?
System Centered
Ad hoc
Does not intentionally incorporate family engagement into all aspects of agency policy, practice, and funding. Instead, it is an “add-on” to processes and programming with no dedicated staff, resources, or accountability.
Family Centered
Comprehensive
Develops an agencywide commitment to family engagement inseparable from the overall case planning, supervision, and service approach. This commitment is reflected in all aspects of policy and practice.
System Centered
Ad hoc
Does not intentionally incorporate family engagement into all aspects of agency policy, practice, and funding. Instead, it is an “add-on” to processes and programming with no dedicated staff, resources, or accountability.
Family Centered
Comprehensive
Develops an agencywide commitment to family engagement inseparable from the overall case planning, supervision, and service approach. This commitment is reflected in all aspects of policy and practice.
Q.
What core principles, policies, and protocols and staff hiring, training, and promotional structures promote an agencywide commitment to family engagement within the juvenile justice system?
What juvenile justice resources are invested specifically in family engagement? Who is responsible for overseeing the comprehensive approach?
System Centered
Generic
The limited family engagement mechanisms that do exist are applied to all families in the same way and do not account for and respond to the differences in families or their circumstances.
Family Centered
Individualized
Meets the needs of individual families and ensures cultural alignment by allowing youth and families to define whom they consider family and using native languages and aligning engagement activities with cultural norms and practices.
System Centered
Generic
The limited family engagement mechanisms that do exist are applied to all families in the same way and do not account for and respond to the differences in families or their circumstances.
Family Centered
Individualized
Meets the needs of individual families and ensures cultural alignment by allowing youth and families to define whom they consider family and using native languages and aligning engagement activities with cultural norms and practices.
Q.
How are individual families’ strengths, cultures, and norms identified and incorporated into juvenile justice supervision and services?
How does your agency partner with families and community groups to support this objective?
System Centered
Obscure
No clear entryway and process for families to get information and navigate system processes, ask questions, understand their role, get the support they need to be engaged, obtain needed services, or provide feedback on their experience.
Family Centered
Accountable
Increases transparency and accountability for systems by sharing clear and frequent communication on system decisions and processes. Establishes performance measures on family engagement, evaluates progress—including through feedback from families—and shares the results with stakeholders and families.
System Centered
Obscure
No clear entryway and process for families to get information and navigate system processes, ask questions, understand their role, get the support they need to be engaged, obtain needed services, or provide feedback on their experience.
Family Centered
Accountable
Increases transparency and accountability for systems by sharing clear and frequent communication on system decisions and processes. Establishes performance measures on family engagement, evaluates progress—including through feedback from families—and shares the results with stakeholders and families.
Q.
What formal tools, forums, and mechanisms are used to share information with families about court processes, supervision expectations, services, and youth’s progress?
How does your agency measure family engagement and satisfaction with juvenile justice professionals and processes, and how are these data shared and used to improve policy and practice?
System Centered
Under-resourced
Rarely dedicates meaningful resources to supporting families, including training staff, facilitating court or program participation, or designating staff who focus on family engagement.
Family Centered
Sustained
Invests in family engagement by building organizational capacity through establishing positions focused on family engagement, collecting data, developing performance measures, and providing staff training and evaluations.
System Centered
Under-resourced
Rarely dedicates meaningful resources to supporting families, including training staff, facilitating court or program participation, or designating staff who focus on family engagement.
Family Centered
Sustained
Invests in family engagement by building organizational capacity through establishing positions focused on family engagement, collecting data, developing performance measures, and providing staff training and evaluations.
Q.
How is family engagement included in the financial and strategic planning of your juvenile justice agency?
What mechanisms exist to evaluate and strengthen juvenile justice staff and agency performance in partnering with families?
Action Steps
Culture shift starts with self-reflection and leadership. Here are some action steps you can take to advance family engagement in your agency:
Action Steps
Key Questions to Consider
Empowering
Supportive
Key Questions to Consider
Key Questions to Consider