Key Accomplishments

The work of the Jane Addams Juvenile Court Foundation (JAJCF) is very much a partnership with the leadership of the Court and all its offices and a broad cross section of stakeholders in the juvenile justice and child protection systems.   The following accomplishments belong to all the many partners involved in this effort.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

•  Stimulated and Supported Process to Redefine Long-Term Vision and Action Agenda for the Cook County Juvenile Court.  

Worked with key Court leaders to undertake an inclusive, comprehensive six-month process to define a shared long-term vision and strategic plan for the Cook County Juvenile Court for the 21 st century that is serving as the foundation for the Court's many ongoing improvement efforts.   This process brought many new voices to planning for the Court and culminated in a written strategic plan, implementation of which is currently underway.   This plan was recently “reaffirmed” by each of the key offices of the Court and the Chief Judge at a public event.

•  Facilitated Development of Long-Term Vision and Action Agenda for Child Protection Division.   Led cooperative venture among participants representing all legal and administrative offices of the Court to articulate, for the first time, a philosophical framework and long-term vision for the Child Protection Division to serve as a foundation for training of Court personnel and court improvement activities in the Division.

•  Stimulated Reassessment of Court Intervention of Dually Involved Youth. Convened major systems players to consider the significance of youth involvement in both the Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Division. Engaged national experts and now working to develop strategy for more cohesive and coordinated intervention.

•  Hosted Cook County Juvenile Justice Leadership Summit. Summit pulled together key Cook County juvenile justice system decision-makers, along with major private foundation partners, to consider the current opportunity for system reform in Cook County, to identify gaps and areas for joint planning to ensure an effective juvenile justice system, and to consider how current and newly conceived initiatives can be coordinated to build a standard-setting juvenile justice system for our county's youth, families, and communities.

IMPROVING COMPREHENSIBILITY OF COURT PROCESS

•  Facilitated Comprehensive Revision of Parent Handbook for Child Protection Division.  

Supported reinstatement of distribution of parent handbook with substantial revision to increase comprehensibility and accuracy.  Created first Spanish version of Handbook.

•  Supported Development of Parent/Youth Handbook for Juvenile Justice Division.  

New handbook outlines court process and expectations of parents and youth charged in the Juvenile Justice Division.  Created first Spanish version of Handbook.

•  Created Video for Presentation Outside Child Protection Courtrooms.  

Video will explain to parents what to expect during the Court process, who the parties are in the Court, and outline their rights and responsibilities.   Video will include Spanish subtitles.

•  Created Video to Explain the Role of Mediation in Child Protection Cases. Video explains to parents and other professionals how mediation can resolve adversarial relationships and promote progress toward timely permanence for children.

•  Spearheaded Creation of Court Ombudsman Position. Promoted development of position to help families navigate system and to direct concerns raised by the public about the Court. Position fully funded at county expense.

•  Supported Creation of Victim Support Center. Partnered with Cook County to fund the creation of safe space for victims of serious youth violence to await hearing and obtain guidance and support.

PROGRAM INITIATIVES

•  Facilitated Bringing Child Protection Mediation to the Juvenile Court.  

Chaired committee of key stakeholders to develop and implement a Child Protection Division mediation alternative (proven effective in other jurisdictions) that is fully supported by County funds. This pilot program has been expanded substantially and now serves all courtrooms within the Child Protection Division of the Court.

•  Created Project Repay to Promote Accountability and Restore Victims of Youth Crime. Brought a successful model from another jurisdiction that allows youth to meet the obligation of court-ordered restitution through “paid” community service that is relevant to their crime or their unique skills and talents.

•  Facilitating a Community Partnership between the Court and the Communities It Serves.   Working with broad cross-section of stakeholders to increase the effectiveness of the Court in working in cooperation with communities through a court-sponsored pilot effort.   This pilot includes bringing Court personnel out into the community, service fairs and dialogues, a career day for local youth at the court, and the “Fresh Start” initiative below.

•  Facilitating“Fresh Start” Initiative to Support Expanding Expungement of Juvenile Records.   Working with the Presiding Judge 's Office, all the offices of the court, and community-based coalitions of advocates and service providers to increase awareness and support for youth to remove youthful offenses from their records to support their success in future employment and education.

•  Created Family Visiting Pilot to Promote Timely, Safe Reunification in Child Protection Cases.  

Research consistently demonstrates a strong correlation between frequent and meaningful visits between parents and their children with timely return home.   This pilot is designed to increase the frequency of visits, while providing parents with supportive “coaching” to help to promote appropriate parenting.

•  Promoting Use of Victim Offender Conferencing to Supplement and Enhance Effectiveness of Court Processing.  

Numerous cases coming before the court involve ongoing conflicts between individuals—conflicts that will not be resolved by traditional court processing.   This pilot will test the usefulness of community-based Victim/Offender Conferencing to try to resolve the more fundamental issues underlying these conflicts.

•  Hosted, with Community Partnership Team, a Service Fair and Dialogue with Community-Based Service Providers and Court Personnel.

The Fair brought over 50 community-based service providers from the Humboldt Park community into the Court to educate court personnel about their services.  The Fair was followed by a dialogue between court personnel and service providers regarding how the court might partner more effectively with the community. 

•  Expanded Pro Bono Legal Services within the Juvenile Court.

Created an unprecedented collaboration among legal assistance organizations and Court offices to engage the largest law firms in the city in pro bono work in the Cook County Juvenile Court.  

•  Funding Local Artist for Work with Youth on Probation.  

Supported a program in which a local artist works with young people to create huge tile mosaics to improve the physical environment of the Court while giving youth an opportunity for reflection and self-expression. Some of the works were paid for in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

•  Funded Training for a Circle Sentencing Program.    

JAJCF supported training for a Circle Sentencing Program helping to bring a new, collaborative approach to sentencing to juvenile justice in Cook County.

•  Creating an Alternative “ Truancy Court ” Model to Avoid Criminalizing Truancy.

Working in partnership with the court, community-based service providers, community members, including youth, with the Chicago Public Schools to create a model to address truancy concerns without resorting to court processing and detention.

•  Supported Court Personnel Tutoring Project.   Funded recruitment luncheon and speaker for year-end celebration for program bringing Court personnel into community to tutor youth.

TRAINING INITIATIVES

•  Facilitated Development of First Core Training for Court Personnel Across Offices.  

Reached agreement across offices to institute the Court's first core training for all personnel in the Child Protection Division, including the judiciary.   Chaired group representing legal and administrative offices within and outside the Court that developed the first core curriculum based on the Child Protection Division's philosophical framework (as mentioned above) and best practice principles. Training has been presented and revised and will be presented regularly for new personnel.

•  Facilitated Development of Monthly "Training Tuesday" Series for All Court Personnel. Created a Training Committee involving all the offices of the Court charged with identifying timely issues of critical importance to all offices for monthly Training Tuesday series. Working now to obtain certification for the Court to allow training to qualify for Continuing Legal Education credits.

•  Supported Site Visits to Key Alternatives in Other Jurisdictions.  

Supported site visit to learn more about a Pay Back alternative, allowing youth to work to provide restitution to their victims.   Further encouraged site visits to learn more about the Missouri model of juvenile corrections.

•  Supporting Cultural Competency Training for Attorney's Offices.  

Promoting the availability of cultural competency training for Assistant State's Attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders and Assistant Public Guardians to help to increase Court responsiveness to children and families it serves.

IMPROVING ACCOUNTABILITY OF COURT PROCESS

•  Stimulating and Facilitating the Reinstatement of Regular Public Reporting. Worked with Court Effectiveness Team to identify key data points for systems management and to outline both short-term and long-term reporting goals. Helping to produce the Court's first public reporting in many years.

•  Facilitated New Court Ombudsman Position to Respond to Public Concerns. Worked with Court Culture Team to identify strategy to support families coming before the Court and to provide an avenue to respond to public concerns.   This position has been incorporated into the County budget.

•  Facilitating Reassessment of Data Management Systems within the Court. Working with data management staff from all the offices involved in child protection and juvenile justice to determine how existing management systems can meet data needs for self-assessment or what changes will be necessary to ensure timely, accurate management information.

RAISING PROFILE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION ISSUES

•  Hosted, with Presiding Judges, Public Event at the Court Celebrating its 21st Century Strategic Plan.  

Hosted, with the Presiding Judge s' Office, an event that included a public information campaign as well as a reception that unified the Chief Judge, the Cook County Public Defender, State's Attorney and Public Guardian, and the Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020 in reaffirming their commitment to the 21st Century Strategic Plan for the Court and celebrated the substantial success to date in implementing that plan.

•  Funded Concept Paper on Maximizing Federal Reimbursements for Juvenile Justice in Illinois.   Funded preparation of concept paper reviewing barriers in Cook County to maximizing federal reimbursements to Illinois for services to juvenile offenders.

•  Hosted Series for Chicago Philanthropists about Juvenile Justice Alternatives.  

Partnered with Donors Forum to host highly successful three-part series for philanthropists that reviewed national research findings and highlighted efforts to bring practice in Cook County in line with research. Twenty foundations were represented at one or more of the sessions.

•  Hosted Session for Philanthropists on Challenges to Illinois Juvenile Corrections System.  

Partnered with the Donors Forum to host a highly successful session to educate philanthropists about issues in youth corrections and the role philanthropy can play in supporting proven alternatives.

•  Co-hosted Site Visit at Council on Foundations Conference to the Cook County Juvenile Court.   Partnered with the Driehaus Foundation and the Music Theatre Workshop to co-host a site visit of the Council on Foundation's national conference, bringing representatives of over 50 local and national foundations into the Court and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to learn about improvement efforts under way in Cook County and to see a performance by young people currently detained in the Detention Center.

•  Raised Issues of Spanish-Speaking Families onto Court Agenda.  

The JAJCF has served as a consistent voice raising the issue of Spanish-speaking families at the Court. This includes offering Spanish translations of parent handbooks and videos.   Currently working on the availability of Spanish translations of routine court orders.