About Youth Treatment Courts

Youth Treatment Courts Work with community-based, high-risk, high-need juvenile individuals whose drug and/or alcohol use is negatively impacting their lives at home, in school, and in their community. Youth Treatment Court (YTC) focuses on juvenile delinquency (e.g., criminal) matters and status offenses (e.g., truancy) that involve substance-using youths.

The YTC is designed to provide immediate and continuous court intervention that includes requiring the child and family to participate in treatment, submit to frequent drug testing, appear at frequent court status hearings, and comply with other court conditions geared to accountability, rehabilitation, long-term sobriety and cessation of criminal activity.

The underlying premise of the youth treatment court is to provide immediate treatment interventions for youth using drugs and / or alcohol, and their families and to provide structure for the participants through the on-going, active involvement and oversight of the treatment court judge and court-based team.

Common goals of youth treatment courts include:

• Provide youth with an opportunity to become clean and sober.
• Provide constructive support to aid them in resisting further criminal activity.
• Provide support to perform well in school and develop positive relationships in the community.
• Provide skills and interventions to support and develop healthy family relationships and skills that will aid them in leading productive, substance-free and crime-free lives.

16 Key Elements of Youth and Family Treatment Courts

1. Collaborative Planning – Engage all stakeholders in creating an interdisciplinary, coordinated, and systemic approach to working with youth and their families.
2. Teamwork – Develop and maintain an interdisciplinary, non-adversarial work team.
3. Clearly Defined Target Population and Eligibility Criteria – Define a target population and eligibility criteria that are aligned with the program’s goals and objectives.
4. Judicial Involvement and Supervision – Schedule frequent judicial reviews and be sensitive to the effect that court proceedings can have on youth and their families.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation – Establish a system for program monitoring and evaluation to maintain quality of service, assess program impact, and contribute to knowledge in the field.
6. Community Partnerships – Build partnerships with community organizations to expand the range of opportunities available to youth and their families.
7. Comprehensive Treatment Planning – Tailor interventions to the complex and varied needs of youth and their families.
8. Developmentally Appropriate Services – Tailor treatment to the developmental needs of adolescents.
9. Gender-Appropriate Services – Design treatment to address the unique needs of each gender.
10. Cultural Competence – Create policies and procedures that are responsive to cultural differences and train personnel to be culturally competent.
11. Focus on Strengths – Maintain a focus on the strengths of youth and their families during program planning and in every interaction between the court and those it serves.
12. Family Engagement – Recognize and engage the family as a valued partner in all components of the program.
13. Educational Linkages – Coordinate with the school system to ensure that each participant enrolls in and attends an educational program that is appropriate to his or her needs.
14. Drug Testing – Design drug testing to be frequent, random, and observed. Document testing policies and procedures in writing.
15. Goal-Oriented Incentives and Sanctions – Respond to compliance and noncompliance with incentives and sanctions that are designed to reinforce or modify the behavior of youth and their families.
16. Confidentiality – Establish a confidentiality policy and procedures that guard the privacy of the youth while allowing the drug court team to access key information