Probation Department, DSS seek funds to help keep youth out of the system
NORWICH – In what can be described as a proactive approach, the Chenango County Probation Department and Department of Social Services are chasing after state funds that will help them continue programs to keep youth out of the criminal justice system.
Department heads met with county leaders at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee last week, seeking support for an application of state funds that will allow the two departments to administer two different programs geared toward helping at-risk youth and their families.
Those two programs, called the “Parent Project” and “Why Try?,” aim to prevent PINS (Persons In Need of Supervision) or delinquency petitions from being filed against a youth while also giving parents useful resources to help keep their kids on the right track.
Chenango County Director of Probation Karen Osborn said the two programs provide a valuable service that could keep troubled kids from making harmful decisions leading to long-term consequences. What’s more, they may also be a cost savings to the county as it costs far more for reactive-type services for PINS than proactive programs.
“These programs are designed to be preventative in nature and address things before they manifest into bigger problems,” said Daniel Auwarter, Deputy Commissioner of Social Services. “Programs like these have ways on improving self-esteem, improving outlook on life, improving emotional standards, making better decisions – all those things at the forefront that help prevent measures at the backend, when CPS (Child Protective Services) or Foster Care gets involved.”
Under the provision that Chenango County uses money to steer such programs, the NY State Office of Family Services has allocated more than $55,700 to the county that runs through March 31, 2016. The county may tap into those funds as long as it also agrees to kick-in 38 percent of the cost to facilitate programming.
Probation and DSS are seeking a total $10,000 from county government in hopes of using funds to train two Parent Project facilitators (at a cost of approximately $4,000), purchase training and curriculum for 10 Why Try? facilitators and 50 youth books (at a cost of $3,500), and provide 50 Parent Project books for approximately three classes (at a cost of $1,000). Left over money would be used to front any unforseen expenses.
Additionally, there are possible overtime expenses the county would need to pay for program facilitators, estimated to reach nearly $8,100 over the course of the programs, bringing total costs to $18,100.
But since the state Office of Family Services is paying 62 percent of all those costs, local share would be only $6,878.
DSS and Probation have devised a strategy to help offset the local share, though. Probation proposes taking $4,000 from its equipment and training budgets, leaving the county to foot a grand total of $2,878 in additional expenses.
The Parent Project (and its counterpart, “Loving Solutions,” which is a similar curriculum geared toward parents of younger children) is not a new program to the county. Both programs offer resources and techniques to help parents deal with strong-willed children.
Since 2013, Osborn has volunteered her time to teach six instalments of the Parent Project and two instalments of Loving Solutions, leading to a total 36 parents who have graduated from the programs. Only one child of one of the parents was entered back into the juvenile system after the program, she said.
Why Try?, however, is new to Chenango. Whereas the Parent Project is geared toward parents, Why Try? addresses youth.
“The Why Try? program is a program designed to anser that question: Why should I try?” Osborne explained. “Maybe they come from families that their parents are alcoholics, or they're failing in school, or they're parents are committing crimes, and the kids are asking why they should do anything different … We have generational problems here in Chenango County and these kinds of programs are trying to break that generational trend.”
The request to pursue funding to maintain the Parent Project and Why Try? programs was granted by the Safety and Rules Committee. The provision of local share funds, however, would need to be approved by the County Board of Supervisors at their July monthly meeting.
Department heads met with county leaders at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee last week, seeking support for an application of state funds that will allow the two departments to administer two different programs geared toward helping at-risk youth and their families.
Those two programs, called the “Parent Project” and “Why Try?,” aim to prevent PINS (Persons In Need of Supervision) or delinquency petitions from being filed against a youth while also giving parents useful resources to help keep their kids on the right track.
Chenango County Director of Probation Karen Osborn said the two programs provide a valuable service that could keep troubled kids from making harmful decisions leading to long-term consequences. What’s more, they may also be a cost savings to the county as it costs far more for reactive-type services for PINS than proactive programs.
“These programs are designed to be preventative in nature and address things before they manifest into bigger problems,” said Daniel Auwarter, Deputy Commissioner of Social Services. “Programs like these have ways on improving self-esteem, improving outlook on life, improving emotional standards, making better decisions – all those things at the forefront that help prevent measures at the backend, when CPS (Child Protective Services) or Foster Care gets involved.”
Under the provision that Chenango County uses money to steer such programs, the NY State Office of Family Services has allocated more than $55,700 to the county that runs through March 31, 2016. The county may tap into those funds as long as it also agrees to kick-in 38 percent of the cost to facilitate programming.
Probation and DSS are seeking a total $10,000 from county government in hopes of using funds to train two Parent Project facilitators (at a cost of approximately $4,000), purchase training and curriculum for 10 Why Try? facilitators and 50 youth books (at a cost of $3,500), and provide 50 Parent Project books for approximately three classes (at a cost of $1,000). Left over money would be used to front any unforseen expenses.
Additionally, there are possible overtime expenses the county would need to pay for program facilitators, estimated to reach nearly $8,100 over the course of the programs, bringing total costs to $18,100.
But since the state Office of Family Services is paying 62 percent of all those costs, local share would be only $6,878.
DSS and Probation have devised a strategy to help offset the local share, though. Probation proposes taking $4,000 from its equipment and training budgets, leaving the county to foot a grand total of $2,878 in additional expenses.
The Parent Project (and its counterpart, “Loving Solutions,” which is a similar curriculum geared toward parents of younger children) is not a new program to the county. Both programs offer resources and techniques to help parents deal with strong-willed children.
Since 2013, Osborn has volunteered her time to teach six instalments of the Parent Project and two instalments of Loving Solutions, leading to a total 36 parents who have graduated from the programs. Only one child of one of the parents was entered back into the juvenile system after the program, she said.
Why Try?, however, is new to Chenango. Whereas the Parent Project is geared toward parents, Why Try? addresses youth.
“The Why Try? program is a program designed to anser that question: Why should I try?” Osborne explained. “Maybe they come from families that their parents are alcoholics, or they're failing in school, or they're parents are committing crimes, and the kids are asking why they should do anything different … We have generational problems here in Chenango County and these kinds of programs are trying to break that generational trend.”
The request to pursue funding to maintain the Parent Project and Why Try? programs was granted by the Safety and Rules Committee. The provision of local share funds, however, would need to be approved by the County Board of Supervisors at their July monthly meeting.
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