NCJ Number
76440
Date Published
1980
Length
143 pages
Annotation
This handbook on the deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DSO) is intended as a guide to effective services for status offenders, with particular reference to DSO activities in California.
Abstract
The present interest in the deinstitutionalization of status offenders is the most recent of a countless series of legal and social developments responding to a concern for children with home problems that was first felt in the United States in the late 19th century. The guide includes a brief description of this legal history as preparation for a discussion of the controversy that surrounds DSO. As the law changed, it enabled and encouraged shifts in the method of services to 'beyond control' youths and their families. The most promising is the concurrent shift in the perception of the problem from the individual child to the family and the other social systems within which the problem behavior develops. A set of principles is proposed to explain how this conceptual shift is essential for the development of effective service approaches for families with problem youths. California's version of DSO limits the use of old methods for dealing with status offenders. Some of the pros and cons of the DSO approaches taken by California counties are examined. Recommendations for cost-effective program designs, procedures, and treatment methods are based on a self-determination conceptual model which aims at restoring the responsibility for resolving the 'beyond control' problem to the family. Recommendations include methods for assisting families to create more functional patterns. A section on the treatment of special problems focuses on rejected children and the suicide risk, physical and sexual abuse, the role of shelter care, truancy and school behavior, and the involuntary client. The concluding section has a brief summary on evaluation and annotated and non-annotated bibliographies of theories, practice, and evaluation references. The handbook is intended to be used by practitioners, planners, and administrators. (Author abstract modified)