Different Worlds with Common Concerns: How Dependency and

Delinquency Systems Can Achieve Better Results by Authentically Engaging Youth and Families

Hernan Carvente and Ryan Shanahan, PhD

Engaging Families

• What are some BENEFITS to working

with families of youth?

• What are some CHALLENGES to

working with families of youth?

Why Work with Families?

• Families are experts on their own lives.• Family members know each other best.• Family is a natural support system for

early crisis intervention.• Families have a long-term investment that

outlasts treatment and government interventions.

Research on Family Engagement

Family Justice Program

• Vera’s Family Justice Program provides extensive training and strategic support to government and community partners to help them effectively draw on the resources of families and communities. These systemic interventions are designed to benefit people at greatest risk of cycling in and out of the justice system.

•  The Vera Institute of Justice is an independent nonprofit that combines expertise in research, demonstration projects, and technical assistance to help leaders in government and civil society improve the systems people rely on for justice and safety.

Family Engagement Matters

A family-systems approach not only reduced recidivism rates for justice-involved youth as compared with other models of treatment, but also reduced rates of siblings’ involvement in the justice system. (Klein, 1977)

The protective effect of receiving parental visits during incarceration exists regardless of the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. (Monahan, Goldweber, Cauffman, 2011)

Youth Who Receive Visits Have Fewer Behavior Incidents

Youth Who are Visited Weekly Have Better GPA’s

80.482.0

85.0

70

75

80

85

90

Never Less 1 week Weekly

Visitation Frequency

GPA

Distance to Facility Is a Barrier to Visitation

School District 11 2 5 7 9 8 4 1 6 10Average

Number of Visits per Year

21.5 19.3 18.8 13.3 9.6 9 3.6 3 2.1 0

High visitation ratesMedium visitation ratesLow visitation rates

FACILITY

Tools for Authentic Family Engagement

Juvenile Relational Inquiry Tool

• Goals of the Juvenile Relational Inquiry Tool:

• To provide staff with a user-friendly method of recognizing and reinforcing positive connections to family and social networks during and after incarceration.

• To build rapport between the professional using the tool and the incarcerated individual.

Paulab.1961

Ray (Mr. A)b. 1957

Cynthiab. 1978

Chloeb. 1994

James Jr.b. 1955

Robertb. 1953

Eleanor 1932-2007

Graceb. 1952

Annetteb. 1960

MALE

FEMALE

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INVOLVEMENT

MENTAL ILLNESS

CHRONIC ILLNESS

DECEASED

MARRIED

SEPARATED

DIVORCED

FAMILY VIOLENCE

James 1929-2006

Henriettab. 1960Incarcerated

Martinb. 1984

EMPLOYED

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

HIGHSCHOOL GRADUATE

TAKES CARE OF CHILDREN

IN SCHOOL

XX

The Genogram

The Ecomap

Religious Services

Unit Staff

PsychologistMother and

Sister

Friends at Facility

School

Godmother

YOUTH

CONFLICT

NEUTRAL

STRONG

The Ecomap

Miracle Question

Imagine you go to sleep tonight and a miracle happens: your challenges no longer exist. When you wake up tomorrow, what will you notice first that tells you a miracle has happened and things are different?

Scaling Questions

Resiliency Questions

What keeps you going?How have you managed?

Exception Questions

Were there times recently when the problem did NOT occur? When was the most recent time you were able to…How did that happen? What was different? Who was involved?

Implementation

• Write down one thing you can do the moment you get back from this training.

• Write down one thing you will do within one week.

• Write down one thing you will do within one month.

Contact Information

Hernan Carvente(212) 376-3113

hcarvente@vera.org

Ryan Shanahan, PhD(212)376-3071

rshanahan@vera.org

http://www.vera.org/centers/family-justice-program