The Porter County Juvenile Detention Center is one of six centers in the state participating in a pilot program that screens youth offenders for mental health disorders.

The screenings, which began Jan. 1, are part of the Juvenile Mental Health Screening, Assessment and Treatment Pilot Project, a program of the Indiana State Bar Association.

Six of Indiana’s 22 juvenile detention centers are in the pilot program. In addition to Porter County, the other participating centers are in Lake, Bartholomew, Clark, Johnson, and Marion counties.

Porter County JDC Director Ken Perkins said the county actually began mental health screenings before the pilot program. Initially, a few staff members were trained to conduct the screenings at intake. After Porter County was selected in the pilot program, the screenings changed somewhat. The JDC received a computer to allow the data to be computerized. The staff now have an assessment tool that backs up their initial determination during the intake process. In addition, the time period for conducting the assessment has been tightened, with every youth undergoing the assessment within two weeks.

“All of the direct care staff are trained to do this now,” Perkins said.

Depending on the outcome of each assessment, JDC staff may bring in mental health professionals, provide the youth ongoing counseling or seek inpatient hospitalization, Perkins said.

The ISBA said the pilot program will help boys and girls in Indiana’s juvenile detention centers to get the appropriate treatment and mental health services they need.

"The likely success of a systematic statewide screening process will not only be beneficial for the individual child who is helped, but it will ultimately save significant tax dollars by reducing recidivism and the costs associated with warehousing youthful offenders. We are proud to be participating in this great project,” said ISBA President Douglas Church of Noblesville.

In the first phase of the pilot program, the six juvenile detention centers were selected to participate. In the second phase, the six participating counties will collect data and record screening results over the span of at least two years for all juveniles admitted into the system.

In 2006, the six centers admitted more than 8,000 troubled youths total.

Posted 1/15/2008