Client Engagement Case Study

I had the opportunity on Friday, February 10th, 2017 to visit with Samantha Sanchez, a professional from the Kansas Children’s Service League regarding their Oasis program. The Oasis program works to serve youth, ages 10-17, that are either at risk for running away or have already run away from home. Sanchez is a case manager through KCSL and works with families and youth to prevent run-aways and build strong families. Before working at KCSL, Samantha completed a degree in psychology and had every intention of working in the field of family and children psychology. While applying for jobs after graduation, her application landed on Amber’s, her current supervisor’s, desk. Although it was not her original intended career, Samantha assured me that KCSL’s Oasis program is her home.

The reality for these teens is, “death isn’t just a possibility–it’s a reality they accept.” But Piquero hopes government officials see the urgency in his research and will help give disadvenataged teens more opportunities to become productive members of society. These kids need education and jobs. Chad Houser, exectutive director of Dallas-based Cafe Momentum, offers young men coming out of jail internships. Many of the men he helps realize the pride of completing an honest day’s work. “A simple pat on the back can make all the difference for disadvantaged juvenile offenders.” For many, they “feel a sense of approval and joy that comes in living up to expectations.” Their attitudes begin to change when they see they have something to live and word towards, instead of “accepting their dismal circumstances as fate.”

Week 3 on Wednesday I had the honor of in interview Mr. Rocco Pozzi. Mr. Pozzi is originally from Pennsylvania, where he attended Penn. State University seeking his Bachelor’s degree In Education. He later became interested in the probation profession, so he changed his major and received a degree in law enforcement and corrections. In 1973 Mr. Pozzi started his career at the Philadelphia Probation Department as a probation trainee and then gradually elevated to Administrative Officer and then Deputy Chief Probation Officer. After serving 16 years in the Philadelphia Probation Department, Mr. Pozzi ventured out and applied for Commissioner of the Probation Department in Westchester County.

Primary clients and stakeholders involved in the program are: teens, parents, volunteers, schools the teen court coordinator Tamisha Fletcher, judges, Teen Court Advisory Board, City of Arlington officials, and the community service agencies who provide work for teens to complete community service hours. The program’s success depends on

Run by many experienced social workers, RYP offers a safe environment for Roxbury teens to challenge themselves academically while preparing for college readiness and learning important life skills through enrichment. By focusing on improving self-image, RYP assists teens to recognize the power of advocacy and self-sufficiency in a particularly harsh neighborhood. RYP does not only provide a safe place to study and grow, but it also provides dinner for all students and rides home at night as a way to ensure the health and safety of Roxbury teens. As a tutor, I will help students reach their educational goals at RYP in addition to guiding them through the college process. More importantly, I get to provide the teens with undivided and individualized adult attention and guidance and support, in the hopes of helping them experience great personal success and achieve their dreams. Providing teens with the tools to succeed academically and personally, RYP allows the youth of Roxbury to narrow the achievement gap and accomplish success in high school, college, and

Following my internship, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and accepted a position with the Department of Child Services (DCS) as a case manager; the same one I had observed in the forensic interview room years ago. Intervening in the lives of families as a DCS case manager is extremely fast-paced, stressful, contentious and heartbreaking. Entering a stranger’s home and making a decision that will impact their lives for years to come forces one

This program was geared towards helping the children of incarcerated individuals as well as giving parents time with their kids. The project involved a twelve week course put together by the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) and DOC teaching people effective parenting from zero to adulthood. Their goal was to get the parents to see their role in their children’s lives. Once the course is completed, parents get to see their kids and a therapist will provide feedback if necessary (DOC n.d.). As mentioned previously, the goal of the program is to improve relationships between incarcerated parents and their children. In the long run, they hope that the good relationship will help influence the kids to stay out of

Dina always wanted to become a Nurse Practitioner and has worked very hard to achieve her goal. But, Dina’s juvenile record has prevented her from fulfilling that dream. When Dina was 12 years old, her parents divorced, and she moved with her mother and siblings from their suburban home and into Section 8 housing. She immediately took on greater responsibilities, including caring for her younger siblings, acting as an interpreter for her mother who was a Haitian immigrant, and completing the family’s public benefits applications. She even obtained her first job at age 13. Like many youth, Dina responded to the added pressure by acting out. That year, she was arrested for a fight in school. By age 15, she had been adjudicated

There are several steps to the criminal justice system, one of them is Probation; a program where the offender’s freedom is limited; usually they have a curfew, and have limits on the things they do. Probations Officers are a huge factor in getting the juvenile offender back on the right track following their sentence. One of the problems with probation is that rather than helping the offenders, sometimes it can hurt them. Some scholars argue that the officers do not take the juveniles, specifically females, seriously when it comes to referring them to receive mental health treatment. In contrast, other scholars argue that Probation Officers are the key to connecting the offenders with mental health care. I will begin by talking about how the gender of the juvenile contributes to the unjust treatment of juveniles on probation, then I will talk about probation officers as “the problem,” and lastly I will talk about a solution. I will conclude by stating my research question and making some contributions as to what can be done to build a stronger relationship between the offenders and the probation officers.

As I mentioned in my reflection last week, I attended a Juvenile Court Diversion meeting on Thursday. Four trained volunteers from the Dover community make up the “Diversion Committee”. The committee members meet with first-time offenders of non-violent crimes who under the age of 18 who live in Dover. After asking the offender to describe what they did and to take responsibility for their actions, the committee talks privately about how to best hold this individual accountable. After coming to an agreement, the offender and the committee members form a contract that outlines tasks and/or expectations for the offender to meet. The creator of this program and director for the Dover Teen Center, Steve, also attends.

“Since 1929, when the first Juvenile Court Statistics report was published using 1927 data, probation has been the overwhelming dispositional choice of juvenile and family court judges” (Torbet, 1996, p. 1). The juvenile justice policies shift from just desert to treatment. (Torbet, 1996) Probation is the disposition of choice with juvenile offenders; however, probation purposes was based solely on the goal of rehabilitating the juvenile offender because institutional confinement builds stigma and social environment issues. (Davies & Davidson, 2001) And this was a way to establish parental involvement. Juveniles do not have as many programs and resources, which probation officers are faced with a lack of resources to provide for youths, not

My chosen career path is to become a Juvenile probation officer. Juvenile probation officers work with youths that have been placed on probation and or have been court order to attend an alternative consequence school to continue their education. Most juvenile probation officers work with youths at a particular stage of their probation process, for an example supervision or investigation. This paper will cover information on the juvenile justice system and my career choice by touching bases with my interviewee a Juvenile Probation Officer Shelvin McGill the agency he is employed with as well as its clientele, I will also speak on the job description and responsibilities, his theory-of-use, and briefly touch on why he chooses this line of work, and his educational background.

“Tomorrow 's future is in the hands of the youth of today” is not a particularly new sentiment. But what is new, what has become a pressing question, is what is to become of the future if our youth are behind bars instead of in schools? Youth today are being pushed into the criminal justice system at an alarming rate. This issue is known as the school to prison pipeline ─ the rapid rate at which children are pushed out of schools and into the criminal justice system. The school to prison pipeline is a term that came into use by activists in the late 1970’s and has gained recognition throughout the years as the issue became more prominent in the 1990’s. Some activists view policies meant to “correct” misbehaviors, especially in regards to Zero Tolerance policies and the policing of schools, as a major contributor to the pipeline. Others believe that the funding of schools and the education standards are to blame for the rapid increase of youth incarcerations. While the school to prison pipeline affects every student, African American students, both male and female, are more often the victim of discrimination in education. The school to prison pipeline must end, and the trend must be reversed.

According to Coplan (2009) there are three levels of engagement present during the cognitive process of viewer engagement, of which recognition is the first. Recognition builds the characters as individual, constant human agents in the viewers’ minds (Coplan 2009:102), and in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman 1978) this is prevalent from the beginning.

When an arts organisation is balancing their artistic, financial and social objectives, the organisation is also thinking about engaging and targeting a specific audience for whom these objectives will suit. To do this, several approaches to audience development will be taken in order to help the organisation meet their overall aims.