Systems of Care for Justice-Involved Youth




NACo Podcasts show

Summary: Every year, more than 2 million children, youth, and young adults formally come into contact with the juvenile justice system. As many as 65 to 70 percent of these juveniles have at least one diagnosable mental health need, and 20 to 25 percent have serious emotional issues. An effective way to meet the mental health and related needs of this population is through what’s called a “system of care.” System of care communities offer comprehensive community-based services and supports and are built on planned and thoughtful programming, strong interagency collaboration, and sustained funding.  In this podcast, we provide an overview of systems of care, and sit down with several counties who have implemented systems of care in their communities. This podcast features music from Broke for Free, Chris Zabriskie and Gabl.