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Wayne County fine-tunes new juvenile mental health court

Detroit Free Press (MI) - 3/3/2015

March 03--A specialty court focused on identifying youths with mental health problems and getting them treatment is in the early stages in Wayne County Circuit Court.

"We're the largest court in the state," said Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge Robert Colombo Jr. "We probably have the most children who are in need of a program like this."

On Monday, more than three dozen people, including health care professionals, prosecution and probation officials, court administrators and community activists, attended an initial meeting at the Lincoln Hall of Justice in Detroit.

Court officials said they plan to apply for grants and expect the juvenile mental health court to be operating this summer or fall.

There are more than 20 adult mental health courts in the state -- including one in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit -- but just three mental health courts for juveniles, said John Nevin, a spokesman with the State Court Administrative Office. Those are in Grand Traverse, Genesee and Muskegon counties.

"Benefits of juvenile mental health courts include reduction in rearrests or contact with law enforcement, decreased incarceration, linking and connecting the offender to appropriate treatment/services, improved mental health and quality of life for the offender," Nevin said in an e-mail.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Edward Joseph is heading up the new project and said about 2/3of children who come under the jurisdiction of the court have some sort of mental health disorder. They include bipolar disorder, depression and other diagnosable disorders.

"The difference with the juvenile cases is often it's multigenerational," he said. "So when you have a child under the court's jurisdiction with a mental health disorder, often you'll also see mental health (issues) either with the parents or elsewhere in the family."

There will be criteria established to identify what cases qualify for the court's services, then treatment plans will be established with therapists, probation officers or case supervisors and psychiatrists.

Regular court hearings will be held to determine whether the child is progressing with the treatment, Joseph said.

A big goal is to allow those participating a chance to have their convictions dismissed or set aside if they comply with treatment, he said.

In 2014, Wayne County Circuit Court had 3,807 delinquency petitions filed and 918 abuse/neglect petitions, Executive Court Administrator Zenell Brown said.

"I want to explore if we can also bring this concept to our abuse and neglect docket," said Wayne County Circuit Judge Virgil Smith, who presides over the juvenile division. "Because there are many mental health issues that come from our abuse and neglect docket that we would like to attack."

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144

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