Making Court the Last Resort - Center for Children's Advocacy

and services for status offenders. Theseincluded new strategies grounded inimmediate crisis response, individualizedservice plans, and a commitment torelying on the family court only as a lastresort. The more we learned, the morewe realized that New York’s experiencewas not unique. In 2004 we documentedthe growing momentum behind PINSreform in our report Changing the StatusQuo for Status Offenders: New York State’sEfforts to Help Troubled Teens. Afterit was published, we received inquiriesand requests to speak from jurisdictionsaround the nation that were struggling withsimilar challenges and wanted to do morefor young people in their communities.Today, looking back, I see a profoundlydifferent policy landscape for statusoffenders, both in New York and nationally.More and more leaders recognize theurgency of this issue and are taking stepsto improve services and systems fortruants, runways, and youth who act outbut are not committing crimes. There areemerging service models, robust reformdialogues, and outcomes that demonstrateyoung people do better when offeredimmediate crisis services instead ofjuvenile court. With nearly seven years ofperspective, it is now time to documentthis reform movement and, with awe,appreciate this important policy shift andnew paradigm for best practice.—Sara MogulescuDirector, Center on Youth JusticeTo make matters worse, historically, morethan half of the young people involvedin the FWSN system were charged withdelinquency offenses down the road. 13To reform this system, the statelegislatively overhauled its approachto serving status offenders and theirfamilies. First, in 2005, the legislatureprohibited judges from using securedetention in FWSN cases. 14 This statutorychange acknowledged the importanceof supporting therapeutic programs inthe community rather than dependingon detention to address FWSN needs.The effective date of this change waspostponed until October 1, 2007, to allowstakeholders to plan and implement analternative paradigm. Accordingly,in 2006, the legislature established theFWSN Advisory Board and charged itwith monitoring progress toward thedevelopment of system changes for statusoffenders and issuing recommendationsfor reform.With guidance from the FWSNAdvisory Board, the legislature passeda second series of reforms in 2007. 15 Thelegislature mandated that every childwho is referred to the juvenile court fora status offense be diverted in the firstinstance. After a brief screening of theFWSN referral by a probation supervisor,children who are currently in crisis ordeemed high need are referred to FamilySupport Centers (FSC) immediately. 16 Otherchildren who appear to have lower-levelneeds are referred to a local youth service10 Making Court the Last Resort: A New Focus for Supporting Families in Crisis