Still, no coordination

klmno

Active Member
How is it that Department of Juvenile Justice is all-encompassing when a kid is incarcerated- they have their own school, living quarters, BSU (Behavioral services unit- ie, corrections dept), and mental/physical health people, plus the kid gets a cm and a parole officer on the outside and they STILL can't coordinate mental health treatment, education, and discipline requirements?

difficult child's cm (from state Department of Juvenile Justice where he is) just returned my call from last week. I had actually called for a couple of different reasons but since she seemed nice and willing to listen, I asked her when and how I go about expressing my concerns about difficult child coming straight home upon release. She asked me why I felt that way so I started down the list, one of which was the way our people in CSU (court services unit, ie, parole/probation officers and MST guy and intake) treat the parent- like it's the parent on probation because the parent is the one who broke the law. She chuckled and agreed that they do this. Then, she didn't sound too happy when I told her that difficult child's mental health care providers had all said he should be in a psychiatric Residential Treatment Center (RTC) (it's probably not the first time she's heard of a kid being sent to state Department of Juvenile Justice because the local jurisdiction didn't want to fund Residential Treatment Center (RTC)), then I told her that maybe all the legal people are correct- maybe he isn't BiPolar (BP) and just needs discipline but if that's the case, I want him off medications. If he is BiPolar (BP) then he needs to get treatment for BiPolar (BP). She agreed. Then I said, well, who is going to make that determination? She said the BSU and she's having the guy who heads that call me back. Fine- but I asked, shouldn't a psychiatrist be involved? She said she didn't know but their BSU people are the ones to make determinations like that.

I also mentioned that CSU here seems to think all difficult child's issues stem from me so for goodness sake, if I'm his big problem, then why on earth would you want to send him back to me?

This is the epitime of what I don't seem to understand. The kid is in legal trouble so instead of just dealing with the consequences portion, they take over everything in his life. And instead of coordinating that with psychiatrists/tdocs, they have to be the ones to dictate what the mental health treatment is- and they don't take into account the psychiatrist/therapist's recommendations. It seems to me that the "consequences" people think they can diagnosis the kid.

She said it was the parole officer who decided whether or not a kid goes straight home upon release. (The parole officer had told me it was Department of Juvenile Justice.) She said they could make a recommendation though. I'll see what the BSU guy says about it- it would definitely go a long way if they recommended that difficult child have a transitional period somewhere else.

Then, she said she needed to see if difficult child had a therapist assigned to him yet. How long does that take? Shouldn't she be keeping up with this stuff as his cm?

Sorry- vent for the day.
 
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CrazyinVA

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Sadly, I think many of these issues are once again a result of underfunding and understaffing. Not a good reason, nor does it make you feel any better, but it seems par for the course in Department of Juvenile Justice based on other parents' experiences I've heard.
 

klmno

Active Member
I kknow you're right- and it actually does make me feel a little better when someone understands this. LOL! I told one of them last week that for an agency to be so in need of parents because they have no funding, some of them sure should think about how they are treating those parents.
 
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