The Youth Services Division includes five distinct programs:
- Alternatives to the Court Experience (ACE) Diversion Program
- Parent and Adolescent Support Services (PASS)
- Strengthening Teens Enriching Parents (STEP)
- Teen Parent Assessment Program (TPAP)
- Youth Homeless Services (YHS)
- Family Therapy (FFT)
Together, these programs comprise a system of services and support for youth who are at-risk of court-involvement, school disengagement, homelessness, and repeat teen pregnancy. The Division engages youth, their families, community-based providers, government agencies, and other partners to address challenging behaviors, circumstances and help youth and their families get back on track toward stability and self-sufficiency.
YOUTH TENETS
Every youth is an individual.
I recognize the support and celebrate their unique needs, values, and strengths in order to respectfully and effectively serve them.
Youth deserves to be part of a family, traditional or non-traditional.
I seek to understand, engage, and support those closest to them.
Youth deserve the opportunity to tell their story without being judged.
I listen to them with an open mind and heart.
Youth are growing and changing and the circumstances that brought them to my attention do not define them.
I strive to empower youth to define and live their own emotionally, educationally, and physically healthy lives.
Youth develop more positively when not involved in the juvenile justice system.
I recognize that testing boundaries, rules and laws are a normal part of adolescent development. Furthermore, I have an obligation and commitment to do everything I can to keep youth from becoming justice-involved.
Positive childhood experiences have a tremendous impact on youths’ long-term emotional, psychological, and physical health.
I work to identify and address past trauma experienced by youth as well as minimize potential future trauma.
Each moment in a youth’s life is vitally important.
A sense of urgency, understanding, and care drives all that I do.