Project Description Grantsmanship Proposal

Grantsmanship Proposal

Project Description

Mental health disorders in the last year have increased as uncertainty about job security and isolation from social interactions has increased. While these challenges have greatly affected adults, children are disproportionately affected if their parents suffer a mental health disorder. These challenges in children go undiagnosed and often result in delinquent behavior and result in juvenile incarceration. According to Underwood and Washington (2016), 80% of the children who have been incarcerated or in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder. Recently, the rate of juvenile incarceration has been on the rise with low tolerance by the education system for defiant behavior (Paternoster & Bachman, 2013). Before 1980, rehabilitative measures were used to address juvenile offenders; however, due to a surge in delinquency, punitive measures were adopted. However, this approach was strategically a mishap since this led to 40% incarceration of adults who have been in the juvenile system by age 25 that disproportionately affects individuals from minority communities. Consequently, this project aims to establish systematic changes in the approach adopted to handling children with delinquent behavior.

Project Goals and Objectives

1. Integration of a screening procedure for mental illness for delinquent children at school and in the juvenile system

a) Objectives

i. Screen for mental health illness among delinquent children before these cases can be forwarded to the juvenile justice system.

ii. Adoption of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument—Version 2 in school counseling departments.

iii. Early identification of mental health disorders among juvenile offenders.

2. Establishment of an effectively working management of mental health illness in the juvenile justice system.

b) Objectives

i. Establish a collaborative plan for the treatment of children’s mental health illnesses with parents and healthcare providers.

ii. Design of a functional family therapy system for children with defiant behaviors.

iii. Implementation of an intensive supervision program for juvenile probationers who display low conduct and mental health disorders.

Implementations Strategies

Integration of a Screening Procedure

The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance will lobby for the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument (MAYSI-1) adoption in the Connecticut juvenile justice system and education system to identify the potential mental health problems that need immediate intervention. Before the need for the juvenile justice system, observation of juvenile conduct among children should be screed for behavioral problems, such as drug abuse, depression or anxiety, suicidal ideation, trauma, and irritability (Underwood & Washington, 2016). The adoption of the MAYSI-1 will be conducted in collaboration with the National Network for a child, Shore Executive director Sasha Bruce, Child Health & Development Institute of CT, Connecticut Youth Services Association, The village for families, and the K-12 education board of Connecticut. The involvement of representatives from these organization stakeholders will tailor the MASYI to suit the ideal need for defiant children within the state.

Legislative Changes

The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance is a non-profit organization that will be approached to oversee the execution of change to employee rehabilitative measures rather than punitive measures. The president of the CJHA, Quaranta, will be involved in the oversight of the formation of a commission to make legislative changes in the due procedures to accommodate screening and treatment of mental health disorders, where they are apparent, among juvenile offenders (Collective Impact Forum, 2018). These changes will be conducted in alliance with the identified organizations to create a holistic approach to the rehabilitation of mentally ill children that addresses their behavioral challenges and adjustment of their environment to make progressive changes in their treatment.

Design of a Functional Family Therapy

The development of a functional family therapy program aims to lower the risk of delinquent behavior for at-risk adolescents between the ages of 11 – 18 years. The program intends to involve the parents, siblings, and the affected child to help them develop a safe home environment. This program will be conducted in association with National Network for a child. The Connecticut State Department of Social Services provides housing for at-risk families with financial challenges through the Connecticut Housing Engagement and Support Services (CHESS) Initiative (Underwood & Washington, 2016). Further, this initiative will help parents secure employment while under affordable housing provided by the state department to stabilize the family.

Supervision and Treatment

The treatment approach for the mentally ill children will involve cognitive-behavioral interventions to equip the teenagers with skills, such as awareness of social cues, and promotes delaying, nonaggressive responding strategies, and problem-solving. Other methods of treatment will be Functional Family Therapy and Multidimensional Family Therapy. The multidimensional approach to treatment complements changed law enforcement categories to increase referrals to juvenile review boards to lower the incarceration rates (Paternoster & Bachman, 2013). After the onset of treatment, the State Department of Social Services will allocate some of its personnel to follow up with the progress of the student’s academic performance and discipline commentary from their teachers to ensure the measures taken to help them are effective.