Features From the Field - August 2022

Features from the Field is a monthly series of resources compiled by NDTAC in partnership with The Department of Education on topics relevant to Title I, Part D (TIPD) State coordinators. This month's resources cover family engagement in TIPD facilities. These resources focus on community engagement; entry, residence, and reentry; and transition and provide information on evidence-based best practices for supporting family engagement within the juvenile justice system.

Family Engagement in Title I, Part D Facilities

Link: https://assets.aecf.org/m/blogdoc/aecf-familyengagementframework-2021.pdf

Audience: Delinquent Facilities Secure Long-Term Settings, Secure Short-Term Settings

Resource Type: Briefs and Reports

Topics: Family and Community Engagement, Entry & Residence, Exit & Reentry, Transition

Resource Date: 2021

Summary: This framework was developed by The Annie E. Casey Foundation to address challenges related to family engagement in the juvenile justice system. Juvenile justice facilities can use this guidance to update policies or staff trainings related to family engagement. The resource discusses the importance of fostering a staff culture centered on families, supporting families by ensuring policies incorporate families or ensuring families have access to resources, and engaging families in decision-making processes. Family engagement can happen at the system level or at the case level. This guide provides critical progress factors and implementation checklist for each component. The checklist includes opportunities for improvement such as staff training, reviewing existing policies, or implementing a family council to increase family voiced. Additionally, the resource includes examples from the field relevant to family engagement for youth in juvenile justice.

Family Engagement in Juvenile Justice

Link: Evidence-based Programs - MPG Literature Review - Family Engagement (ojp.gov)

Audience: Delinquent Facilities Secure Long-Term Settings, Secure Short-Term Settings

Resource Type: Briefs and Reports

Topics: Family and Community Engagement, Entry & Residence, Exit & Reentry, Prevention

Resource Date: February 2018

Summary: This resource by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention synthesizes literature about the role of family engagement in the juvenile justice system. Educators under Title I, Part D can access evidence-based practices for improving family engagement from this resource. The theoretical benefits of strong family engagement are examined as protective factors. Different models of family engagement are also explored. This resource develops five principles of strong family engagement: dignity and respect, peer-to-peer support, collaboration/ partnership, communication/ information sharing, and sustained participation. Family engagement strategies that are widely used are also described, which include policies on family engagement, written guidance, and family engagement programs. Outcome evidence for several of these programs is also provided, including positive family support, functional family therapy, and multi-systemic therapy-family integrated transitions. Additionally, this resource explains barriers to family engagement that are both structural within the justice system and interpersonal barriers for families who may find interacting with their children in the justice system inaccessible or intimidating.

Family Engagement in Juvenile Justice Systems: Building a Strategy and Shifting the Culture

Link: https://csgjusticecenter.org/publications/family-engagement-in-juvenile-justice-systems/

Audience: Delinquent Facilities Secure Long-Term Settings, Secure Short-Term Settings, and Researchers

Resource Type: Briefs and Reports

Topics: Family and Community Engagement, Entry & Residence, Exit & Reentry, Prevention, Transition

Resource Date: April 2022

Summary:

This resource from the Council of State Governments Justice Center describes gaps in family participation within the juvenile justice system and ways to strategically plan to support families’ needs. Several factors that create gaps in family engagement are described including inadequate guidance from leaders within the juvenile justice system to parents, a lack of policies that center family engagement, and shame and stigma associated with family engagement with incarcerated youth. Understanding broader approaches to family engagement in juvenile justice facilities can help educators under the Title I, Part D program integrate strategies to engage families in students’ education.

The resource references results form a survey from Justice for Families in which family members reported on their experiences interacting with the juvenile justice system. The overwhelming majority of these respondents feel as though they like support when trying to engage with their incarcerated children and are minimally involved with major decisions about their child’s transition out of the system. One way to address these barriers to family engagement is shifting from a system-centered approach to a family-centered approach. The authors explain that system-centered approaches often do not intentionally include families in supporting incarcerated youth, and rather relying on juvenile justice policies that are often impersonal or unclear when it comes to building individualized family engagement strategies for each incarcerated youth. Instead, a family-centered approach is supportive to both youth and families by allowing them to have more autonomy in decisions regarding their child’s future. This resource additionally provides several examples of states shifting toward a family-centered approach through programs and practice.

Family Engagement Inventory

Link: https://www.childwelfare.gov/fei/

Audience: Educators, Delinquent Facilities Secure Long-Term Settings, Secure Short-Term Settings, Practitioners, Youth, Families, Communities, or Advocates, Policymakers, and Researchers

Resource Type: Website

Topics: Family and Community Engagement, Entry & Residence, Exit & Reentry, Prevention, Transition

Resource Date: April 2017

Summary: This resource, developed by the Child Welfare Information Gateway for the Children’s Bureau takes a cross-disciplinary approach to examine family engagement strategies across child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, education, and early childhood education settings. The website includes a crosswalk between family engagement strategies used in each context; concrete practice, program and system strategies; and additional practical resources to support building a family engagement plan. The resource is particularly useful for Title I, Part D practitioners to understand the similarities and differences in family engagement strategies for their broader facilities and within their educational programming.