Rogers County Youth Services to soon produce first grads of diversion program
The first two kids referred to Rogers County Youth Services' grant-funded juvenile diversion program will soon graduate.
Like GRAND Mental Health's Release to Recovery program, Youth Services' juvenile diversion program is drawing from about $578,346 Rogers County has received since September 2024 from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Executive Director Herb McSpadden and two other RCYS personnel involved in the program gave a presentation on it to the Rogers County Commissioners at their Monday meeting.
"We have an unproportionately high rate of kids who are going through the juvenile justice system and juvenile detention [in Rogers County], and so our goal is to work with law enforcement for some of those kids through the municipal courts, in the district courts and into the diversion program," McSpadden said.
Shala Padilla is RCYS' juvenile diversion specialist. Padilla said since starting this role in January, 40 kids have been referred to her by the state Office of Juvenile Affairs, law enforcement and school resource officers.
Padilla, licensed as a clinical social worker, said she assesses each kid to get insight into their mental health, family life and other issues that may have caused them to get in trouble.
"Once that assessment is completed, we present it to our community accountability board," Padilla said. "Right now, that consists of us, GRAND Mental Health, Volunteers for Youth, Light of Hope and CREOKS. So we are reviewing the referral, we are reviewing that assessment that we completed, then we are taking our time and completing a 90-day service plan for that juvenile and that family to enter into."
Padilla said the plan might include counseling, community service, parenting classes and more. Upon completing everything prescribed in the plan within 90 days, Padilla said the juvenile will see their charges essentially dropped.
She said 14 kids are going through the program right now, and two will graduate at the end of the month.
McSpadden said he spent a year working in a juvenile detention facility about 20 years ago, and he gathered from that experience that not all kids who break the law belong there.
"If we can identify those ones who aren't a risk to the community and keep them at home, it's a cost savings, both to the county and the state, but it also shows long term, we're providing much better care for your kids and families," McSpadden said.
RCYS is also working with kids in juvenile detention, per the Office of Juvenile Affairs' request. The agency recently hired Tracy Goad, who worked for the juvenile affairs office for 31 years, to reach this population.
Goad's job is to work with the kids, their families and Judge Stephen Pazzo to develop a re-entry plan for the juvenile to follow upon release. She said this helps the court system move faster and gets kids get home and connected to local support services sooner.
District 2 Commissioner and Chairman Steve Hendrix asked McSpadden if he knew why a disproportionate amount of Rogers County kids end up in juvenile detention; McSpadden said he hasn't gotten a chance to probe this question.
"Historically, that's been the case, and I honestly couldn't tell you why," McSpadden said. "I haven't gotten into the weeds of why that occurs, but working with law enforcement, our school resource officers have been fantastic to identify these kids that aren't violent offenders. They don't need to go to district court, and so they're making those referrals to us."
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