Status Offender Program – STOP

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Children’s Village is Oakland County’s public juvenile facility housing 216 youth. The 50 acre campus contains seven residential buildings ranging from non-secure to secure. A campus wide school, medical unit and food services unit complete the campus. Children’s Village operates under licensure by the State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Reflective of the licenses are three key program areas; secure detention for pre-adjudicated youths, residential (correctional) treatment for adjudicated youth and shelter care/transitional services for youth who have been removed from their homes for reasons of abuse/neglect and/or are status offenders. Implemented in July 2014, the Children’s Village Status Offender Program (STOP) is an intensive, short-term treatment program designed to assist pre and post adjudicated status offenders in improving their decision making skills, helping them return successfully to the community and avoid further escalation within the juvenile justice system. Located within Mandy’s Place emergency shelter, the co-ed program provides assessment, crisis intervention, case management and counseling services centered on each resident’s unique needs. STOP’s primary goal is to provide a short-term intervention that supports residents in making a timely return to the community. This is critical, as it has been consistently demonstrated that long-term confinement does not reduce reoffending, and in some cases may increase it for certain youths.