CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Risk Assessment and Mental Health Screening in Juvenile Probation
The National Youth Screening and Assessment Project (NYSAP) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School invites applications from juvenile justice jurisdictions (e.g., probation agencies, judicial commissions, defender or prosecutor organizations) to participate in the Risk and Mental Health Screening and Assessment of Youth (RAMSAY) Technical Assistance Demonstration Project. This project is co-funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Participation in RAMSAY could greatly enhance the effectiveness with which a juvenile justice jurisdiction makes case management decisions, optimally resulting in improved allocation of resources, reduced costs, and reduced likelihood of further delinquency.
Participating jurisdictions will receive technical assistance at no cost for up to 18 months to implement an empirically validated risk assessment tool (to be selected in consultation with NYSAP) and a well-researched mental health screening tool, the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version (MAYSI-2), for use by juvenile probation officers. Jurisdictions also will benefit in several other ways. NYSAP will:
Provide funds to hire a part-time Assessment Coordinator (e.g., a regional manager or deputy of the probation office)
Provide funds for costs associated with any enhancements to the existing database management system needed to record necessary data
Provide training to several stakeholder groups about the research based decision-making model for case planning
Hire experts to train staff on the risk assessment tool selected and on the MAYSI-2 (the author of the MAYSI-2, Thomas Grisso, Ph.D., will provide training on that tool)
Purchase manuals of the risk assessment tool for each probation officer
Purchase computer software for administering the MAYSI-2 (MAYSIWARE)
RESOURCES:
The full announcement that describes the eligibility requirements, selection criteria, and application process is available at http://www.nysap.us/. Applications are due by May 9, 2012.
For more information, please contact Dr. Laura Guy, the Principal Investigator, at laura.guy@umassmed.edu.
