Page 19 - Delaware Lawyer - Spring 2022

a salient topic like impulse control or resisting negative peer pressure, completing a course in anger man- agement, engaging with a community organization like those listed below, performing community service, or apologizing to their victim. They may also be asked to undertake mental health or substance abuse evaluations and, when appropriate, commence treatment.
After a successful set-out, the child’s charges may be reduced or nolle prosequi, entirely depending on the terms nego- tiated with the child’s attorney. This affords our department the ability to keep children who have committed minor offenses, and who are unlikely to reoffend, from getting embroiled in the system. In turn, this allows us to focus our correctional resources on those youth whose criminogenic needs are more profound.
Cross-Departmental Cooperation
These collaborative arrangements in which juvenile defendants are able to engage with services and perform acts of community contrition in lieu of traditional punishment are made possible by the collegiality of the Delaware Way. Because all juveniles in the Family Court must be represented by counsel,2 the cooperation between the DOJ and other wise adversarial counsel like the Office of Defense Counsel, conflict and private counsel, is the critical first step to any successful diversion set-out.
But the cooperative approach does not end with counsel. Even more critical to the future success of de- linquent juveniles are those pub- lic and private entities dedicated to the service of youth and families in our state. The primary body provid- ing boots-on-the-ground services to Delaware’s delinquent and dependent youth is the Delaware Department
Many delinquent juveniles and their families require additional assistance from the state to address underlying household and mental health-related triggers for delinquent behavior.
of Services for Children, Youth and their Families (DSCYF).3
DSCYF has three divisions for pro- viding services and a fourth division for management. Most readers will be familiar with the Division of Fam- ily Services (DFS), which promotes safety and well-being of children by working with entire families to address theneedsoftheyouth.4TheDivision of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services (PBH) assists Delaware’s
youth with mental health and sub- stance abuse treatment, including prevention, outpatient and even residential treatment services.5 Finally, Youth Rehabilitative Ser vices (YRS) functions as the correction system for juveniles, providing de- tention, institutional care, probation, aftercare and prevention services for those youth who are adjudicated delinquent or pending adjudication ofdelinquency.6
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