Delinquency/Aftercare | Community County Services

DELINQUENCY / AFTERCARE

The Aftercare Program was selected by the PA Office of Juvenile Justice as a prevention approach to delinquency for adjudicated and pre-delinquent youth after school. It focuses on the Principles of Balanced & Restorative Justice/BARJ with an overall focus of Building Competencies.

The Aftercare Service focuses on delinquent and/or pre-delinquent juveniles who have delinquent behaviors that cause them to become involved with the Juvenile Probation Office (JPO) for various crimes or the Children Youth and Family System (CYFS). Services are provided for delinquent youth referred by the County JPO and/or CYFS system. The program is open to receive referrals from outside sources, but only on a limited basis when the youth also has involvement with JPO or CYFS. Specific family service plan goals and court orders are integrated with a team approach facilitated between the JPO/CYFS systems.

The Aftercare Program operates after school between the hours of 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and on the weekend according to the individual youth offenses and risk factors. This time frame offers intervention when offenses and problematic social behaviors occur. The service is based on a 90-day cycle with a review of progress on a weekly basis and monthly reassessment review. Aftercare works to engage and challenge the youth in the development of competency skills identified to offset risk factors directly related to their delinquent behaviors. The competency skills are applied, practiced, and tracked across all environments (home, school, and community). The competency skill building includes: pro-social activities, psycho-education for substance abuse, training for risk factors related to sexual behaviors, prevocational, self-esteem/leadership development, school readiness, attendance, grade improvement, decreased disciplinary infractions, peer-facilitated group sessions, problem-solving, communication and anger management, and community service as restitution for a crime connected to community/neighborhood. Target behaviors, risk factors, and safety factors will be tracked for improvement. A tracking form/card is designed to be positive, not punitive, with points earned in each targeted area.

Community service and community involvement engage the youth and family or significant persons in the development of positive social activities/skills. This also offers the youth/family an opportunity to belong and contribute and stay involved in his/her neighborhood.

The summer intervention challenge stimulates the youth to continue their progress and accountability when youth are at greater risk of regression or reoffending. The summer challenge is designed to focus on practicing competency skills during specified activities. The youth will be challenged to demonstrate resilience, leadership, self-discipline, and teamwork. The specified activities are designed to encourage the youth and community to connect. This results in outcomes of positive community involvement and contribution towards community projects. This opportunity to become involved during the summer daytime schedule of the community allows the youth to experience different education and vocational challenges and offset costs for Counties and communities to hire personnel for projects/labor. The production of projects that produce concrete materials and goods can be sold to gain dollars that the youth use to pay for fines and costs or donate to worthy causes. The opportunity for youth/family to be mentored by community members is an added bonus for longitudinal success to this approach.