Youth Detention Centers in Georgia Rife With Problems Says Juvenile Justice Commissioner

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Low pay, poor training and an unsafe work environment have led to unacceptable turnover among guards at Georgia's youth jails and prisons, Juvenile Justice Commissioner Gale Buckner says. ”By the time we get our juvenile correctional officers trained, they're leaving us,” she said Tuesday. The Department of Juvenile Justice reported a 54 percent turnover rate in 2011, up by nearly one-third over the previous year. Buckner, in a briefing for Augusta-area legislators, offered no specifics about a criminal probe into the recent fatal beating of a 19-year-old youth at the state’s Augusta Youth Development Campus. But the former GBI agent addressed a wide range of security issues, including the possible need for a “super-max” facility to house some of the YDC’s most violent youths.

Home for the Holidays for Two Brothers, Part Two

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Erin Dale, a probation officer in Cobb County, Georgia’s juvenile drug court, has never come across a kid who started using marijuna as young as Zach Dykes. “Seven years old,” Dale said. “Pre-teen, like 11 or 12, is the earliest I’d seen before Zach.”

Zach, 17, is currently in the Cobb County, Ga. Juvenile drug court program. Up until this April, the Hillgrove High School senior had smoked marijuana on and off – mostly on – since he was 7.

Disturbance at Paulding County, Georgia Regional Youth Detention Center

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Two 17 year olds were taken into custody by Sheriff’s deputies late Friday after a disturbance at the Paulding County Georgia Regional Youth Detention Center, according to local authorities. The county Sheriff’s Department was called by officials at the YDC, a privately run facility northwest of Atlanta, to help quell the disturbance. The Dallas-Hiram Patch, quoted Sgt. Brandon Gurley of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office as saying a "large number" were found outside their assigned areas. “They were causing a disturbance, there was a good bit of damage already on site — flooding, windows broken and things of that nature,” Gurley said.

New Juvenile Justice Database in Georgia Puts Pieces of Puzzle in One Place

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With the goal of presenting “the most current and accurate juvenile crime data available,” Georgia's Governor’s Office for Children and Families (GOCF) launched a new website this week. The Georgia Juvenile Justice Data Clearinghouse aggregates data from multiple partners such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.

“It’s a way to synthesize the information so people can look at it and say, ‘OK, this is what we’ve got,'” said Joe Vignati, director of Justice Programs at GOCF.

“You’ve got pieces of the puzzle all over the place,” Vignati said. And not all counties are able to report their data yet. In fact, one county, Vignati said, is still using paper records.

Georgia's First Lady, Sandra Deal, was the inaugural visitor to the website a few days ago. After signing on, she said, “I am confident that this effort will go a long ways in helping improve outcomes for Georgia’s Youth, “said Mrs. Deal.

The site is broken into three main sections: Reports and Dashboards, Interactive Map and Pre-made Maps, each providing multiple ways of exploring the data from spreadsheets to pie charts.

Only Never is Too Late for a Foster Child

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Hope’s* earliest memories are with her younger sister and her mother. But these are not the fond memories of a warm and carefree childhood, rather they are full of the pain she felt from watching her mother struggle with drug addiction. Hope’s mother loved her two girls, but did not consistently provide for the basic needs of her children, often leaving them for long periods of time with relatives with no explanation. At the age of 8, Hope’s life changed forever. Her relatives, realizing that the girls had been abandoned, and deciding they would not or could not care for the two children, called Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and the children entered foster care.

In Georgia, Two Differing Opinions About how to Revamp the Juvenile Justice Code

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Most of the people who know anything about Georgia’s four-decades-old juvenile code agree it needs changing. There is, however, disagreement over how, and how much, it should be changed.
Today, the JJIE brings you two differing opinions on the subject, something that will likely prove to be a major issue when the state Legislature begins its work next year.
Judge Robert Rodatus is a juvenile court judge in Gwinette County, Ga. He has worked in his current position since 1991 and has held a number of positions in the state’s Council of Juvenile Court Judges.
Kirsten Widner is director of Policy and Advocacy for the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. In the recent past, she has become one of the key representatives for groups and individuals working towards revision of the state’s juvenile code.

Normer Adams: Shifting the Child Welfare Culture at DHS

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Last week Governor-Elect Deal nominated Clyde Reese as the new Commissioner of Department of Human Services pending the expected approval of the DHS Board.  Clyde Reese is currently serving as the Commissioner of the Department of Community Health. Present Commissioner of DHS, B.J. Walker has served as its Commissioner since May of 2004.  During that time the Department has made remarkable progress in shifting the child welfare culture to family centered practices, increased family engagement and outcome based management and decision making.  Faced with sanctions and fines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a child protection system busting at the seams with nearly 15,000 children, B.J.Walker's mandate from the Governor was to bring about reform and improved outcomes for children. The numbers tell the story of these past six years.  Since 2004, the number of children in foster care has been reduced by 50%.  The re-abuse rate for children identified by the Department has declined by more than 70% and is half the national standard. Georgia has the fifth lowest rate of recurrence of child maltreatment in the U.S.   In 2004, more than four thousand children had overdue investigations.  Today that number is zero. Commissioner Walker in a letter to the board of DHS says, "I came here with much enthusiasm and energy.  I leave that same way.  Some of the most remarkable people I have ever known have worked for me here, put forth unbelievable efforts on behalf of the "right work, the right way," and never let lack of time, money or resources take away from their desire to achieve greatness."