Berrien County Juvenile Center
6414 Deans Hill Road
Berrien Center, MI 49102
269-471-2831
269-471-2837 fax
Philosophy
Through Teamwork the Juvenile Center provides a structured and secure environment conducive to building resident self-esteem through discipline, education, counseling, and health services, thereby developing in the residents a healthy respect for themselves and their community.
Mission Statement - Berrien County Juvenile Center
The mission of the Berrien County Juvenile Center is to have a significant, positive and corrective impact upon the youth in our care. In so doing, we contribute to the Court’s efforts to serve and protect the public by providing temporary care and custody, crisis intervention and other helpful services to pre-adjudicated and post-adjudicated youth, with a sensitivity to the special needs of these individuals and their families.
Goals - Berrien County Juvenile Center
1. Create and maintain a safe, secure, and therapeutic environment which addresses the identified needs of the youth and staff.
2. Provide helpful services for youth which will enhance self esteem, promote self discipline, ensure physical well being, and encourage social development.
3. Maintain, ensure, and protect the constitutional, personal, and legal rights of the youth under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Center while holding them accountable for fulfilling program expectations and responsibilities.
4. Recruit, select, retain, and promote only the best educated, most dedicated, and highest quality experienced professionals to serve in the organization.
5. Invest in personnel and enhance the quality of the service delivery system by designing, implementing, and periodically upgrading a comprehensive staff development program.
6. Operate an efficient and fiscally responsible facility which provides the public and clientele with the highest quality services possible.
7. Inform and educate the community about Juvenile Center services by implementing an active public information plan.
- Design, implement, and monitor an ongoing evaluation system which will accurately assess goal achievement and program effectiveness.
BERRIEN COUNTY JUVENILE CENTER
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
Introduction and History
The Berrien County Juvenile Center in Berrien Center, Michigan, provides programs and services for two categories of youth: 1) those in need of secure detention care because it is not safe for them to be left in their own homes or in other Court programs while they await Court disposition and 2) those in need of a residential treatment setting with greater controls than those provided in their own homes or in other Court programs.
In 1972, as part of its effort to develop a comprehensive youth program, Berrien County commissioned a juvenile center for housing and treating approximately 40 youth with behavioral problems. A center was built to provide entirely separate facilities for two contrasting groups: youth requiring short-term secure detention and those requiring long-term residential treatment in an open setting. The Berrien County Juvenile Center was constructed in 1973 and first occupied on April 22, 1974.
The architectural atmosphere for the Center was designed to be appropriate for children - bright, warm, relatively small in scale and without an impersonal institutional quality. The residential appearance of the exterior is carried over into the interior, were a positive environmental impact upon the institutional climate is achieved.
In January, 1982, the Berrien County Juvenile Court satisfactorily achieved accreditation status from the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections. In so doing, it became the first Court in the United States to have all of its programs accredited by the Commission. The Court programs involved in this process included the following:
· Probation Services Division
· Juvenile Center Residential Treatment Program. Re-accredited, 1985, 1989, 1994
· Juvenile Center Secure Detention Program (Reception). Re-accredited, 1985, 1989, 1994
The Center has five broad goals: 1) the better protection of society through fewer juveniles becoming adult offenders; 2) better efficiency in handling juveniles through sound programs; 3) reduction of the number of youth committed to the Michigan Family Independence Agency and the state training schools; 4) a better informed and involved public; and 5) long-range tax dollar savings.
Within the building, there is a clear separation between the secure detention program and the open residential program. The secure detention wing, designed for pre-adjudicated youth, has a capacity for 16 residents and is located at the west end of the building, furthest from the public entrance. The open residential treatment wing, designed for adjudicated delinquent youth, has a capacity for 26 residents and is located at the east end.
The residential treatment program and the secure detention program each has its own classrooms, dayrooms, administrative offices and maintenance areas. Common areas such as the Court hearing room, dining room and gymnasium are located so that they can be shared by both groups on a staggered schedule.
Further within the residential treatment program is a Alternative to Detention unit of eith (8) beds, more commonly known as the North Unit. This unit houses lower risk offenders per the Detention Screening Form for the most part and provides additional capacity for the detention housing needs. This staff secure unit was implemented for pre-adjudicated youth. While it is located in the residential side of the building, it is only a a unit for holding pre-adjudicated youth.
The Residential Treatment Program
The Berrien County Juvenile Center Residential Treatment Program is a twenty-four hour a day 18 bed treatment program for juvenile delinquents, ages 12 through 17.
The treatment modality known as the EQUIP Program is designed with groups of nine to ten youth working together to solve mutual problems. In a group, the members are taught to show care and concern for one another. They learn to accept responsibility for their own behavior as well as the behavior of other group members. The group meets five evenings each week in a ninety minute counseling session with an adult Case Manager to help solve problems and assist in assessing individual residents’ progress on program goals.
While youth are in the Residential Treatment Program, they are allowed to receive weekly visits from parents and grandparents. Each youth can earn the privilege of going off-campus with his family once he has demonstrated his ability to assume responsibility. Home visits may be granted while in the Treatment Program depending on the youth’s Phase and progress.
Each youth, while in the Treatment Program, attends school daily at the Center, with Special Education. Youth are also involved in recreational and enrichment programs here and away from the Center. Each youth receives an Individual Treatment Plan which identifies hurting behavior problems, behavior pattern goals and expected length of time for program completion.
In brief, the agent of change is the positive influence that group members have for one another, along with the atmosphere provided by staff, that creates a climate conducive to positive change. The goal of the Residential Treatment Program is to provide an environment within which youth may achieve the development of healthier self-concepts, learn skills for coping with problems they encounter at home, at school and in the community; achieve greater success experience, learn to accept responsible behavior and become a contributing member of society.
The Secure Detention Program
The Detention Program is a sixteen bed coed secure detention facility which utilizes a behavior management program (RBT/Rationale Behavior Training) to help residents achieve productive self-management. The goal of this program is the achievement of healthier self-concepts by residents through the development of social skills, academic, problem solving and work-related skills. RBT focuses primarily on personal choice and changing thinking concepts as the key to behavior change.
The facility serves primarily as a secure, temporary placement for youth ages 10-17 that have been apprehended by law enforcement agencies and petitioned to Juvenile Court for allegedly committing criminal offenses. Each detained youth has a preliminary hearing within 24 hours. At an adjudication hearing, the case is disposed of, or the youth is adjudicated delinquent. If adjudicated delinquent, he may be released and placed on probation, placed in foster family/group home, committed to the Residential Treatment Program of the Berrien County Juvenile Center or committed to the Michigan Department of Human Services or private residential facility.
The Secure Detention Program offers medical, education, recreational, religious counseling and other helpful services to those youth needing secure care. Visitation, mail and telephone access are provided to detained youth facilitating continued contact with their families.
Personnel
The most important ingredient which contributes to the success of an organization is the quality of its Team or the personnel who implement its programs. Over the years, Berrien County Juvenile Center Team has committed to providing helpful services to troubled youth and achieving organizational goals.
The Administrative Team consists of two Secretaries, four Juvenile Center Supervisors, four Assistant Supervisors, one Therapist, one Assistant Director and the Center Director.
The Residential Team consists of one Clinical and Treatment Services Manager, two Case Managers, eleven Youth Specialists, two Teachers and one Teacher’s Aide.
The Secure Detention Team consists of one Case Manager and eleven Youth Specialists, one Teacher.
The Support Services Team includes two Maintenance Workers, one Food Service Coordinator and two Cooks. Medical services are provided on a contractual basis, by three Physician’s and one Nurse.
Prescription and Pharmaceutical services are provided by a contract service with Correct Rx.