Tag Archive for: Juvenile Court
Embracing Technology in the Juvenile Justice Field
Many organizations and those working in them feel anxious when starting to evaluate or implement a technology project. This anxiety may center around implementing the new technology and ensuring that the day-to-day users will accept and use the technology. Technology should be selected and implemented to ultimately help improve services and efficiency for the organization.
I hosted a webinar during which I examined common issues that arise when implementing new technology and pointed out four main aspects that every organization should address when trying to help users or organizations embrace technology. It’s an important topic to evaluate when considering a new system.
The webinar provided valuable information that administrators can use to help alleviate any resistance they face. One of the most important points to remember is to involve the users, line staff, data entry specialists, or other integral parties in the implementation process. If administrators can get the staff to buy in and embrace the new technology, then the likelihood of a successful implementation and a positive experience is higher.
I am reminded of a saying “junk in will equal junk out.” Meaning if staff are not entering information into the system as it is designed, then the outcomes will not be what is expected. During the webcast, I provided practical steps every agency can use to overcome resistance to embracing technology and highlighted the benefits of incorporating technology into operations.
Please view the recorded webinar here to learn some practical steps and points that will assist you in embracing and successfully implementing technology in your organization.
Kitsap County Juvenile and Family Court Services Goes Live on New RiteTrack Case Management System
Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services went live on a RiteTrack system in January 1, 2017. This implementation represents the culmination of years of work and planning to create a system that spans data from three areas: juvenile detention, youth offenders, and non-offenders.
Juvenile detention cases encompass sentenced youth or youth brought in by law enforcement. Youth offender cases cover drug courts and diversion efforts while non-offender cases deal with children in need of services (CHINS), at-risk youth (ARY), child protective services (CPS), and truancies. With all of this juvenile case management information centralized, the ease that staff can provide services to has been bolstered.
The County signed a contract with Handel in April of 2016 and many of the staff worked diligently on defining the scope and working closely with the designated Project Manager to outline processes to incorporate into the system. Project Manager Ben McKay said “our success is based on our partners, and the dedication from Kitsap’s team helped ensure the successful implementation of this project.”
Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services uses RiteTrack’s standard functionality and also configured the system to meet specific needs and create specialized reports. One of the most valuable reports is the juvenile year-over-year comparison that aggregates data from the system including the length of stay and demographics to provide a big picture of trending changes and generates data to submit to the state of Washington for reporting purposes.
In order to recognize the hard work and diligence that went into a successful project of this scope, the County held a celebration February 16, 2017. (Read our blog about it here) We’re so pleased to have developed a strong, working relationship with the leadership and staff at Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services.
Kitsap County’s Juvenile Department/Superior Court is committed to providing innovative, comprehensive, and effective services to youth, families, schools and the community within a quality work environment, by professional, caring staff.
Handel creates RiteTrack, a web-based, centralized database, information management software that is used by juvenile justice agencies throughout the country. It provides the primary means for caseworkers, administrators and other professionals to manage their clients and caseloads and provides reliable reporting to generate reliable data.
Improving Processes and Creating a Successful Implementation for Kitsap County Juvenile and Family Court Services
It all began with a conference presentation on OneNote and a question.
“This could be described as a ‘textbook project,” said Bud Harris, Director, Information Services. “It began at the right place, the right time, with the right thought processes, and all the right people came together.”
The concept that grew into the Kitsap County Juvenile Family and Court Services RiteTrack Case Management System came from the question: what if involved youths’ records could be better managed and the information shared between programs?
Michael Merringer, Juvenile Court Administrator, became involved with probation in the 1990s and found that common practices for managing youth records created segregated, unreliable information. Every time a juvenile came into detention, they would make a new paper file for them that would include assessments, medical history, and recommended programming which could not be easily shared nor was it common to share cross-department.
However, following the seemingly commonplace OneNote presentation, Merringer had a flash of insight. Wouldn’t it be great if they operated with ONE file for ONE kid? All forms would be carried in that file, staff would have access, various people could contribute, and everyone would have access to the information they needed (subject to appropriate security restrictions) while keeping everything up-to-date.
This was the vision that blossomed into the carefully planned, meticulously implemented project with an overall goal of improving access, security and accuracy of client information, examining and improving internal processes, and providing reliable, statistical data.
Sometimes projects also provide unintended benefits. Merringer said the RiteTrack project had such a benefit: process improvement. The key philosophy applied in this project was to look at the process first before applying the technology. The staff improved processes during the mapping phase by cutting out redundant efforts and wasted activity. Mapping processes across multiple departments created a visual representation of how each department dealt with their processes and cases, and was valuable because it provided visuals of the processes to assist in directing the technology. Because of this project, the Department can monitor processes and continually improve them to better meet the needs of staff, too.
After defining many internal processes, the department went to look at available options for juvenile justice information management systems. As with most system explorations options included building in-house, buying off-the-shelf, or some combination thereof. To find how other jurisdictions managed their juvenile data they visited other counties in the state and kept hearing about the RiteTrack Juvenile Justice Software from Handel IT. Because they defined processes prior to searching for a solution, they were able to use them to match process flows with available offerings.
Following the review of available options, the Department found that RiteTrack offered the combination of an off-the-shelf solution paired with configuration capabilities that could create a solution to perfectly fit the diligently outlined processes. After a competitive bidding process in 2015, RiteTrack and Handel were chosen as the solution and vendor for this project.
“Over several years a group of dedicated individuals accepted the challenge of creating an electronic environment for case management for the Department. Members of the team came from every area of the County and Juvenile Department. Working together as a team, the successful development of the Juvenile Department’s RiteTrack Case Management System was realized,” the Department’s launch party invitation read.
Kitsap County went live on its new RiteTrack Juvenile Case Management system on January 1, 2017. A celebration of the successful implementation and go-live took place in the offices of the Kitsap County Juvenile Court Administration on February 16. Handel is pleased to partner with the Department and provide the tools to help create its ideal data management solution for its involved youth.
OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center Offers New Online Course “Developing and Revising Juvenile Codes”
The center’s new course will help individuals develop effective and sustainable programs for reducing juvenile crimes and increasing youth potential in tribal communities.
RiteTrack Simplifies Information Management in Whatcom County, WA
An Integrated justice information system is the holy grail of information technology for many larger municipalities. Traditionally, counties and cities developed information systems specific to each division. This left information sharing and communication between departments difficult at best.
Before RiteTrack, all case notes were kept on paper by probation officers, all statistics were drawn up by hand. When information was needed, it was only accessible through the individual probation officer. Due to space concerns, when youths were no longer under Whatcom County supervision, files were moved off-site. When youths re-entered the system, requesting and gathering information about them took time and considerable effort.
Whatcom first implemented RiteTrack’s comprehensive information management system in their Juvenile Court Administration to track clients through the court process into detention or other alternative sanctions, and eventually out into the community. For Whatcom County employees, they enter data on juveniles just once and the information follows the youths through the different stages through the legal system. This now not only saves a lot of time, but it integrates the information and allows workers to have a holistic picture of their clients at all times.
Handel’s RiteTrack significantly improves the monitoring of the juveniles in the system by providing a central place for all information relating to a youth to be kept. Legal information, detention information and social information (treatment, school, probation appointments, home visits, etc.) are all kept on RiteTrack where it is instantly accessible to authorized persons. David Reynolds, Juvenile Court Administrator explains, “If I receive a call from a parent relating to a case or probation event, from my desk I can easily access the information relating to the youth. Before we adopted RiteTrack, whenever probation officers needed to provide or obtain information about a youth being detained in our facility, they actually had to physically enter the facility and retrieve the written information, or write the information in the youth’s detention file. Now they can do this from their office without having to leave it. Often times, as well, the Court has us look up information in RiteTrack during court to determine what has been going on with the youth- last time in detention, missed probation appointments, and so on”.
Whatcom County has taken RiteTrack out into the field to the point the on an in-home visit, if probation officers need an arrest warrant, instead of having to leave, get it and come back, officers can notify judges, who can sign the warrant and through RiteTrack’s document manager have it ready on the probation officer’s laptop without worrying whether the youth will be there when they return with the warrant.
As for those statistical reports, according to Reynolds, one report used to take him 30 hours each quarter to compile. Now it takes him less than 30 seconds from start to finish.