Untitled Document
In the fall of 2005, with the assistance of then-U.S.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Collaboration on Youth and Youth
Network Council received a $1.2 million grant to expand mental-health
services to children who’d been exposed to the juvenile justice
system [see R.L. Nave, “Mind matters,” Sept. 29, 2005]. This week, the youth organization released the
findings of a 16-month program, called the Juvenile Justice/Mental Health
Initiative. Among 698 juveniles with prior contact with the
juvenile justice system, lead evaluator Gary B. Beringer reports, early
diagnosis and treatment of mental illness resulted in a dramatic decrease
in repeat offenses. In Illinois, the recidivism rate among juveniles
nears 50 percent, despite the state’s spending more than three times
in per capita funding on youth offenders. Participants in the mental-health initiative saw much
lower rates, however. Of 566 juveniles who could be tracked, 10.7 percent
committed offenses during the 16-month program period.
Beringer’s evaluation also revealed a
“substantial unmet need for mental health services, including proper
mental assessment” among children ages 10 through 17 who had had one
or more previous contacts with law enforcement.
Girls represented 37.3 percent of participants,
although they account for just 8 percent of Illinois’ juvenile prison
population.
Almost half of the participants were white;
African-Americans accounted for 39.3 percent and Hispanics 12.1 percent of
JJMHI clients. Most, some 80 percent, had some form of health insurance,
either through a private company or a state program such as Kid Care. Participants also exhibited a range of destructive
behaviors, including thoughts of or attempts at suicide, physical and
sexual abuse, homicidal thoughts, violence, and self-injury or mutilation.
According to C. Gary Leofanti, president of ICOY, had
it not been for the treatment they received during the program, most of the
participants would never have broken the cycle of criminal behavior. The initial funding for the initiative, which was
carried out by 22 community-based health-care and youth organizations, was
provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Now, the organizations that spearheaded the effort
are looking for an additional $500,000 in matching funds from the state to
keep the mental-health initiative going and eventually combine it with the
state’s Medicaid program.
Contact R.L. Nave@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in May 3-9, 2007.
