Probation is a time-limited, relationship-based intervention, with probation officers serving more as coaches than referees.
This practice guide helps juvenile justice agencies implement family-engaged case planning in youth probation. In this approach to case planning, juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families.
Watch a two-minute video presenting juvenile probation officer as coaches and catalysts for youth to succeed on probation and beyond. The coaching role aligns youth probation with powerful evidence on adolescent brain development, adolescent behavior and what works in addressing delinquent conduct.
Watch a five-minute video about ten core principles for youth probation, featuring Veronica Ballard Cunningham with the American Probation and Parole Association and Opal West with the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Young people and families, defined broadly, are included in case planning.
This practice guide helps juvenile justice agencies implement family-engaged case planning in youth probation. In this approach to case planning, juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families.
This quick reference document prepares probation officers to meet with families to prepare or modify the case plan.
Take this free online course to explore the core principles and practices of Positive Youth Justice, a strengths-based, relationship-focused approach to working with youth in the justice system.
Take this free online course to explore what authentic family engagement looks like, why it is a necessary part of probation transformation and what steps individuals and agencies — in partnership with families themselves — can take to bring it to life
Case plans address identified needs, engage young people in positive youth development activities and contain realistic expectations and goals that are meaningful to young people and their families.
View sample case plans representing different stages of the family-engaged case planning process.
This practice guide helps juvenile justice agencies implement family-engaged case planning in youth probation. In this approach to case planning, juvenile probation officers formulate case plans by collaborating with young people and their families.
Learn how Positive Youth Justice builds on key principles of Positive Youth Development.
Read how Jeff Butts describes the Postive Youth Justice model, which offers practitioners concrete policies and procedures that align youth justice with the science of adolescent development.
The duration of probation supervision rarely exceeds six to nine months, and almost never exceeds one year.
This practice guide provides a framework for how to define and structure youth probation terms, articulating a research-based, time-limited approach in which probation officers function as "resource bridges" focused primarily on connecting or reconnecting youth with community-based resources to support them in the long term.
Case management prioritizes incentives to encourage positive behavior by offering opportunities and rewards valued by youth.
Read an overview of Opportunity-Based Probation, an approach that shifts probation's emphasis from deterring misbehavior to incentivizing positive behavior change and growth.
Take this free online course to explore what is developmentally appropriate for young people based on the ongoing maturation process of the brain. The course offers important context for teen behavior and probation transformation.
Read the policy and procedure manual for Opportunity-Based Probation. It was designed by the Pierce County Juvenile Court in collaboration with the University of Washington.
Consider the evidence supporting the use of incentives as an essential component of good juvenile probation practice.
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