Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, March 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule establishes standards of
eligibility and operation of Community-Based Diversionary Programs funded
through grants from the Division of Youth Services pursuant to section
219.041,
RSMo.
(1) The Division of
Youth Services (DYS) is authorized under section
219.041,
RSMo, to administer a Juvenile Court Diversion Grant Program (JCD Grant
Program) for the purpose of assisting local units of government in the
development and implementation of community-based treatment programs for the
care and treatment of youth.
(2)
The goal of the program is to support juvenile courts to serve youth on a local
level so that youth may be afforded the necessary services through their local
courts in order that they can remain in the community rather than being exposed
to a larger segment of the juvenile justice system.
(3) The Director of DYS may designate an
employee of the division to act as the authorized representative of the
division for the purpose of entering into and administering contractual
services agreements between the division and a local juvenile court.
(4) The local juvenile court shall not
supplant funds because of the implementation of the JCD Grant Program in
accordance with section 219.041.8, RSMo.
(5) The standards for the JCD Grant Program
shall be-
(A) Preference will be given to
programs that are consistent with the evidence-based and promising-practices
approach described in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention's Model Programs Guide .
(B) Each program initiated with JCD Grant
Funds shall contain projects within one (1) or more of the following focus
areas:
1. School and education support
programs, including day treatment services and other community-based programs,
that provide educational and treatment services to youth to keep them
productively involved in their local communities;
2. Counseling/treatment services, including
sex offender treatment and supervision services providing community-based
sex-offense specific treatment groups, parent support groups, and in-home
therapy and supervision to pre-and post-adjudicated juvenile sex offenders;
3. Family support/preservation,
including family therapy and support services, to assist youth in working
through family issues and providing tools to resolve conflict;
4. Supplemental court
services/supervision/gang prevention, including community-based supervision of
assigned youth during the evenings and weekends when youth are at the greatest
risk to engage in unproductive and unlawful behavior. This includes the
monitoring of assigned youth to ensure that they are complying with the
conditions of their community placement and the provision of supportive
services such as parent education, crisis intervention, mentoring, and
skill-building as needed; and it includes mentoring services by which volunteer
mentors are recruited, trained, matched with troubled youth, and supported in
their work with them. Participating youth may be under either formal or
informal supervision by the court during their time in the program;
5. Restorative justice services by which
juvenile offenders are held accountable and educated as to the far-reaching
impact of their behaviors; and
6.
Private care diversion services designed for those youth who require structured
residential services specialized in providing treatment for their complex
needs. Under this program, youth are served in alternative living centers
without committing them to the care and supervision of DYS.
(C) Projects shall fall within a
general program description sup- ported by organizations such as the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Projects may provide for
1. Educational services/tutoring;
2. School/court liaisons;
3. Day treatment/alternative schools;
4. Jobs/vocational training/job
placement;
5. Recreational/after
school programs;
6. Truancy
prevention;
7. Suspension/expulsion
alternatives;
8. Violence
prevention;
9. Community group
counseling;
10. Anger management;
11. Mental health services;
12. Substance abuse prevention;
13. Sex offender therapy;
14. Prevention
education/treatment;
15.
Mentoring/advocacy;
16. Family
therapy;
17. Family support
preservation;
18. Parenting
skills;
19. Family mediation;
20. Teen court;
21. Electronic monitoring/intensive
supervision;
22. Gang
prevention/intervention;
23. Drug
court;
24. Gang education;
25. Restitution program services;
26. Community service;
27. Victim mediation;
28. Community accountability program
services;
29. Alternative
residential placement;
30.
Purchased residential care (foster/shelter); and
31. Other model programs providing probation,
supervision, family support, or restorative justice services
(6) For those projects
where youth will be placed in residential care with a private contractor, the
contractor must have and maintain a license in good standing from the
Department of Social Services, Children's Division. The JCD Grant recipient
must have a written agreement in place with each contractual residential care
provider that requires the provider to notify the JCD Grant recipient within
ten days of any change in the provider's licensing status. The JCD Grant
recipient shall then notify DYS of any change in the provider's licensing
status within ten days and shall arrange for alternative placement of the youth
unless an express written waiver is provided by the DYS.
(7) Applications for the JCD Grant Program
shall be made in writing by the local JCD Grant Program Planning Committee.
Each application shall include a completed application form and a written
report containing a program description, method of implementation, and a
proposed budget of all projects proposed to be funded.
(8) The local juvenile court judge shall
appoint a planning committee (JCD Grant Program Planning Committee) whose
membership shall be representative of the community's population as required by
section 219.041.3, RSMo. The JCD Grant Program Planning Committee shall consist
of at least three and no more than seven members. Members may include the
juvenile court judge or his/her designee, the juvenile officer or his/her
designee, a representative from a local school district, or a parent of a child
who has received services from the juvenile court. Other people may include the
chief court administrator, school superintendent or his/her designee, or any
local or community leader that focuses on the well-being of youth and their
families and is supported by their local juvenile court. The committee shall
actively participate in the formulation of plans for the proper expenditure of
funds and shall cooperate and assist the juvenile court judge in the
implementation of these plans. Members of this committee shall receive no
compensation for their service on the committee.
(9) The local JCD Grant Program Planning
Committee shall submit to the director a grant application form with a written
report containing a program description, method of implementation, and a
proposed budget of all projects proposed to be funded. The information provided
shall list-
(A) The specific services that
will be provided through the use of the grant funds;
(B) The exact parameters of these
services;
(C) The total amount of
monies requested;
(D) The
apportionment of monies for each service;
(E) The steps that will be taken to implement
the program and the timeline for the full implementation of the
program;
(F) The number of youth to
be served;
(G) The description of
the performance and the outcome measures that the grantee will use in
evaluating the effectiveness of the pro- gram; and
(H) The local juvenile court programming and
commitment history, including program outcomes, effective utilization of
funding, and diversion history.
(10) The recipient of a grant must permit the
director of DYS or his/her designee to visit and inspect each project funded by
the JCD Grant Program. The recipient of a grant must account for the monies,
provide performance statistics, and make the books and records of the program
open to DYS or the Department of Social Services for inspection and monitoring
upon request. Upon a written recommendation from DYS for needed changes or
improvements in a funded project, the grant recipients shall make the necessary
changes to the project. The recipient of a grant must allow DYS to monitor all
functions of programs developed with JCD Grant Funds. Juvenile court staff must
assist and cooperate with division staff in monitoring programs and in
determining if the program is operating according to the contractual agreement
negotiated between both par- ties.
(11) When the director determines that there
are reasonable grounds to believe that a grant recipient is not in compliance
with the operating standards established by this regulation, the following may
occur:
(A) The director may give thirty (30)
days written notice to the grant recipient that the director is terminating the
grant;
(B) The director may give
thirty (30) days written notice to the grant recipient that the director is
suspending all or a portion of any grant subsidy payment until the required
standard of operation has been met;
(C) A revocation or suspension shall have
immediate effect when the director has reason to believe the grant was obtained
by fraud, trick, misrepresentation, or concealment of any material fact; the
grant was issued by inadvertence or mistake and the grant recipient was not
qualified to receive the grant; or the grant recipient has endangered the
safety of a youth;
(D) Whenever the
director terminates or suspends a JCD Grant, the notice will be sent via
certified mail and the JCD Grant recipient who is aggrieved by the action may
request an informal, administrative review before the director or the
director's designee;
(E) The JCD
Grant recipient must make a written request for an administrative review within
ten (10) business days of receipt of the notice of the termination or
suspension. The grant recipient shall submit the grounds for error, along with
any supporting documentation to the director;
(F) The director or the director's designee
may then review the request based upon the written submission or, at the
request of the grantee, hold an informal meeting to discuss the grantee's
concerns. The hearing shall be informal, the rules of evidence will not apply,
and there is no right to subpoena witnesses;
(G) At the sole discretion of the director,
the director may allow the JCD Grant recipient an opportunity to cure any
deficiencies in the standard of operation of the recipient's program pending
the administrative review; and
(H)
DYS shall be authorized to recoup funds from the JCD Grant recipient if DYS
determines, after an administrative hearing, that funds were improperly
expended.
