Community-based day treatment programs modeled after Pennsylvania’s Bethesda Day Treatment Center are an optional component of the SafeFutures initiative. Such centers provide intensive supervision, service coordination, and counseling to youth and families (including home visits, parent or family counseling, and family intervention services). Individualized educational alternatives also may be developed for youth who have had difficulties (academic or social) in mainstream education settings. SafeFutures funding is available for up to $30,000 (under Part C of the JJDP Act) to permit the demonstration sites to receive training to develop such centers in their communities.

ach youth is assessed, is assigned a caseworker, and has a service and treatment plan developed to meet his or her needs.

Founded in 1983, Bethesda Day Treatment focuses on pre- and postadjudicated youth who are referred to the program by juvenile justice agents. Male and female offenders are ages 10 to 17. Each youth is assessed, is assigned a caseworker, and has a service and treatment plan developed to meet his or her needs. The average stay is 6 months. The program includes individual therapy (counseling, supervision, and study skills development), group therapy (social interaction, group counseling, life and job skills training, and group activities), and family therapy (family and parent counseling, family intervention, and family training). The program also includes alternative schooling, short-term foster care, and drug and alcohol counseling. In general, Bethesda Day Treatment offers an alternative to residential placement or can serve as an aftercare component for youth returning from a residential placement (Howell, 1995).

At this time, there has been relatively little research on community-based residential treatment centers. A small-scale evaluation of the Bethesda Day Treatment model found that the recidivism rate among juveniles participating in the program was far below national and regional norms, at about 5 percent. Although this is promising, it should be noted that the scale of the survey was so small (N=20) that the generalizability of the findings is questionable (Howell, 1995).

None of the SafeFutures sites has adopted the Bethesda model itself, and some expressed concerns about its applicability for the target areas or population served in their community. Several sites explored the possibility of implementing day treatment programs modeled after Bethesda by sending representatives to visit the Bethesda Center or other day treatment programs. Some sites may implement day treatment in the later stages of SafeFutures, although not necessarily following the Bethesda model, and some introduced day treatment as part of the SVCJO component (discussed below).

Under SafeFutures, day treatment is seen as part of a community’s continuum of care and can be used as (1) an alternative to placement in detention facilities, (2) a treatment option prior to adjudication, or (3) an aftercare component for youth leaving institutional care. Such day treatment would include intensive supervision, service coordination, and counseling for youth and families (including home visits, parent or family counseling, and family intervention services). Other expected program elements are individual, group, and family therapy and drug and alcohol counseling. Individualized educational alternatives or alternative schooling also may be developed for youth who have had difficulties (academic or social) in mainstream educational settings. Some sites, including Boston and Contra Costa County, are implementing day treatment as part of their continuum of care (discussed in the section “Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender Programs”).

Comprehensive Responses to Youth At Risk: Interim Findings From the SafeFutures Initiative

OJJDP Summary • November 2000