Interagency Mechanism
Because child delinquents often have many concurrent problems, including antisocial behavior, learning difficulties, mood problems, and exposure to child abuse and neglect, a number of agencies have typically provided services to this group. Practitioners almost unanimously agree that more coordination among the juvenile justice system, schools, child welfare agencies, and mental health agencies is needed to deal with very young offenders (Farrington, Loeber, and Kalb, 2001). However, such integrated programs are extremely rare, and their effectiveness remains to be evaluated. The Study Group suggests that one of the following three mechanisms may be needed to coordinate and fully integrate a continuum of care and sanctions for child delinquents:
- A governing body or interagency council that, at minimum, includes representatives from all juvenile justice-related human services organizations and agencies and has the authority to convene these agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy for dealing with child delinquents.
- A front-end mechanism within the juvenile justice system that can make comprehensive assessments of referred child delinquents, such as Community Assessment Centers that provide a single point of entry (Dembo and Brown, 1994; Oldenettel and Wordes, 1999).
- A mechanism to ensure interagency coordination and collaboration in the delivery of services in the postadjudication phase, such as wraparound services that can be applied to children and families in a flexible and individualized manner (Duchnowski and Kutash, 1996).
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