Dual Status Youth - Achieving the Possible

September 27, 2024

Training Session: Dual Status Youth - Achieving the Possible

Friday, September 27, 2024

Indiana Government Center South

Conference Room B

Draft Agenda

9:00—9:15 am Welcome from Judge Dana Kenworthy, Indiana Court of Appeals, Chair of the Youth Justice Oversight Committee

9:15—10:30 am Keynote Address: Achieving the Possible

John Tuell, Executive Director, Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center on Juvenile Justice

10:30—10:45 am Break

10:45—12:15 pm Panel Discussion: Collaborating for the Best Interests of Child and Community: Moderators John A. Tuell, and Joel C. Wieneke; Panelists: Magistrate Robert G. Vann; Dr. Casey Pederson, Ph.D, HSPP; Damita Jefferson, MSW; Rachel Vilensky; Nichole Phillips;

12:15—1:30 pm Lunch (on own)

1:30—3:00 pm Breakout Sessions

Breakout 1: For attorneys representing children in delinquency and child welfare proceedings, GALs, and CASAs. Comparative roles for children (expressed interest v. best interest), rights to protect in dual proceedings, and available services and how to advocate for them.

Breakout 2: For juvenile probation officers and family cases managers. Comparative perspectives and goals when working with dual status youth, and strategies for collaboration to achieve them

Training Abstract:

The term “dual status youth” refers to youth who come into contact with both the child welfare and youth justice systems. A growing body of research has consistently confirmed that, in comparison to youth without such cross-system involvement, dual status youth present a range of important challenges. The challenges and costs associated with dual status youth strongly suggest the need to develop and implement innovative ways to improve outcomes for these youth and their families.

The “Dual Status Youth Initiative: Achieving the Possible” session will explore research highlighting the correlation between child maltreatment and future delinquency and the prevalence of complex trauma among dual status youth. John A. Tuell, Executive Director of the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, will present and facilitate this dynamic and interactive day of training to explore the best practices and policies that support successful multi-system collaborations to interrupt the costly trajectory (human and fiscal) that are too frequently the outcome for this population of youth and families.

The session will feature the seminal four-phase framework created by Mr. Tuell that supports sustainable strategies, practices and policies for a more coordinated child welfare and youth justice system and highlight the challenges and successes produced in more than 35 state and local jurisdictions nationwide, including a past partnership with Marion County, Indiana. Drawing from our recently published journal article (Achieving the Possible on Behalf of Dual Status Youth, John A. Tuell and Jodi Martin, Journal of Community Justice, Volume 33, Number 01, Fall 2023) that highlights core practices in achieving alignment and success and the research-informed evidence of best practices to achieve positive youth outcomes (e.g., adolescent brain science, positive youth development, scientifically validated assessment methodologies, family engagement, etc.), the session will provoke, inform, challenge, and invite participant discourse that helps to develop locally driven solutions that will impact Indiana jurisdictions.

Presenters:

John A. Tuell currently serves as the Executive Director for the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice at RFK Community Alliance. The RFK National Resource Center focuses on practice and policy reform through an active commitment to partnerships with state, local and federal agencies dedicated to improving the lives of our nation’s youth.

Mr. Tuell has devoted his entire professional career to practice within and reform on behalf of the juvenile justice and related youth serving systems. Mr. Tuell began his career in the Fairfax County, Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court by working as a probation officer, intake and residential group care worker, and Administrator for twenty-two bed, residential facility for chronically delinquent boys, covering the period from 1979-1996. Mr. Tuell has also served in the U.S. Department of Justice within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1996-2001), within the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) where he directed the newly created Juvenile Justice Division (2001-2009), and finally with RFK Community Alliance (formerly Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps) where he founded and launched the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice in December 2013.

Among numerous guiding publications that support the work of the National Resource Center, including:

· Developmental Reform in Juvenile Justice: Translating the Science of Adolescent Development to Sustainable Best Practice Brief (2017)

· Keys to Youth Justice Improvement: Demonstration of Practical, Sustainable, Measurable, and Replicable Solutions (February 2023)

· Achieving the Possible on Behalf of Dual Status Youth (Journal of Community Justice, Volume 33, Number 01, Fall 2023)

Mr. Tuell has also authored several guiding publication resources on the topics of probation and youth justice system reform, dual status youth, and diversion that provide seminal frameworks for state and local jurisdictions to achieve positive outcomes.

Mr. Tuell earned his Bachelor of Social Work degree from James Madison University and his Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from George Washington University. He is the proud father of two sons, Austin (age 34) and Zachary (age 29).

Damita Jefferson, MSW is the Director of Adult and Family Services at Voices Corp. Although Damita has only been at Voices Corp since the beginning of February 2022, she comes with over two decades of experience working in the Human Services and Justice System fields. Damita served almost 20 years as a

Juvenile Probation Officer/Supervisor and has experience with the Monroe County Youth Services Bureau and Indiana Girls School.

While working with the courts, Damita was heavily involved with the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) work. Damita is now a member of the Marion County Reentry Coalition with involvement on the Housing and Education/Employment subcommittees and the Steering Committee for the Marion County Youth’s Violence Prevention Coalition. Damita’s love for education and assisting the next generation of human, social and justice serving professionals led her to becoming an Adjunct Faculty at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI where she teaches Juvenile Justice.

Damita was also involved with the development and implementation of Dual Status Assessment Teams (DSAT) process in Marion County. She attended the national and local trainings, including a conference with the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation. Damita now serves as the DSAT facilitator for Marion County.

Damita recently completed the Women of Color Executive Leadership and Legacies Program under the Leadership of Carolene Mays. During this amazing year long program Damita was able to work and learn alongside some of the amazing WOC in Indianapolis and learn from some of our best community leaders.

The Honorable Dana J. Kenworthy, a lifelong Hoosier raised in small town Amboy, has devoted her entire career to public service. Governor Eric Holcomb appointed her to the Court of Appeals in December 2022, resulting in the first female majority in the Court’s history.

Judge Kenworthy strongly values education and is a first-generation college graduate. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Ball State University in 1998, and graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2001.

From 2001 to 2010, she served as a Grant County Deputy Prosecutor, concentrating on cases involving child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, computer-facilitated crimes, and juvenile delinquency. During this time, she served as a guardian ad litem, course instructor for Finding Words (teaching how to interview children in a nonleading way), and coordinator for Grant County’s Pro Bono Program. In 2005, she received the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Outstanding Prosecutor Award, and in 2006 she received the Indiana Pro Bono Commission’s Randall T. Shepard Award.

In 2010, the Indiana Supreme Court appointed her Judge Pro Tempore of Grant Superior Court 2. She served in that capacity until 2012 and was reelected twice thereafter. Her general jurisdiction docket included criminal, civil, juvenile, family, and probate cases. In 2015, she established the Grant County Family Recovery Court (FRC)—a problem-solving court which provides intensive supervision and treatment services for Child in Need of Services families struggling with substance use disorder. Grant County FRC is known as the “gold standard” for FRCs in Indiana, and in 2021 was named one of eight Peer Learning Courts (PLC) in the United States. In 2023, she was recognized as a Distinguished Barrister by the Indiana Lawyer.

Throughout her career, Judge Kenworthy has held numerous leadership positions in local, state, and national organizations aimed at improving the administration of justice, including as President of the Indiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Board of Directors, National Center for State Courts Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative, and member of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Resuming Operations Task Force. She is a frequent presenter at conferences. Judge Kenworthy and her husband Alex also served as foster parents to fifteen children—infants to teenagers—from 2003 to 2006.

Dr. Casey Pederson, Ph. D HSPP, is a clinical child psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of potentially life-threatening adolescent behaviors such as aggression, suicidality, and substance use, with a primary focus on addressing these concerns among justice-involved youth. Holding a doctorate from the University of Kansas, Dr. Pederson fortified her expertise through specialized training at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, concentrating on juvenile justice and behavioral health. Her postdoctoral training at Indiana University School of Medicine centered on implementing evidence-based assessments and treatments for adolescent substance use for both justice-involved and community youth. Balancing research and clinical practice, her influential work spans understanding life-threatening adolescent behaviors to innovating interventions for justice-involved youth. With a decade of dedicated service, Dr. Pederson's unique blend of expertise, research engagement, and practical experience positions her as an esteemed authority in enhancing the well-being of justice-involved adolescents and treating other high-risk clinical concerns in youth.

Shannon Howard-Chastain has dedicated her career as an attorney to working in the youth justice system. Shannon has worked for Marion County Public Defender Agency since 2005. She is an Assistant Chief in the Youth Justice Division for the MCPDA as well as a trial attorney maintaining a caseload. Shannon received both her Bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor degree from Southern Illinois University where she was born and raised. In 2018 she was the recipient of the Gault Award from IPDC who annually recognizes a lawyer who has demonstrated an outstanding degree of commitment, competency, and professionalism in representing juvenile clients. Shannon’s favorite thing to do is to be a mother and spend time with her 8- and 14-year-old daughters.

Nichole Phillips earned her Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from Indiana University and her Masters in Criminal Justice from University of Cincinnati. She worked as a juvenile probation officer in Brown County from 1998-2004, also serving as the Chief Probation Officer from 2001-2004. Ms. Phillips has worked with Bartholomew County Court Services since 2004 and currently serves at the Assistant Chief Probation Officer-Juvenile Services. Ms. Phillips has served on the Probation Officer’s Advisory Board, Indiana Cross Systems Task Force, State Dual Status Implementation Team, the State JDAI Data and Case Processing Workgroups and the Indiana Youth Justice Oversight Committee. She serves as the local JDAI co-coordinator and is a certified trainer for University of Cincinnati’s Case Management curriculum and the EPICS curriculum.

Rachel Vilensky is the Director of the Direct Representation Program at Child Advocates where she provides legal assistance to children involved in Child in Need of Services (CHINS) cases. She also teaches the Child Representation Practicum at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Prior to this position, she was the Juvenile Division Assistant Chief at the Marion County Public Defender Agency and provided training on juvenile defense representation through the Indiana Public Defender Council. She graduated from the Maurer School of Law: Indiana University in 2009. Rachel became a certified trainer for the Juvenile Training Immersion Program in 2015. Rachel is passionate about ensuring children in CHINS cases know their rights, are given the opportunity to appropriately exert or waive their rights, and have legal representation where necessary to assist them with the CHINS process, including arguing for less restrictive alternatives.

Joel C. Wieneke is a senior staff attorney with the Indiana Public Defender Council, where he focuses on all aspects of defending children in delinquency court and criminal court. He is the 2018 recipient of the Viola Taliaferro Award of the Indiana State Bar Association and the 2019 recipient of the IPDC’s Gault Award. He is a certified Juvenile Training Immersion Program trainer, and graduate of the National Juvenile Defender Council’s Summer Academy. Joel clerked with the Honorable Patricia A. Riley and John G. Baker, both of the Indiana Court of Appeals, was the president of the Putnam County Bar Association, and is a former board member for the Indiana Public Defender Council

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Indiana Government Center South, 302 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, United States