 Gov. Pat Quinn is seeking to sweep the Illinois Department of
Juvenile Justice, the state agency that currently oversees
incarcerated minors, into the larger Illinois Department of Children
and Family Services.Jerry Stermer, the governor's chief of staff,
stressed that the proposed move would provide more resources toward
helping incarcerated youths reintegrate into society.
"These are young people that we're going to focus on and we're
going to do everything we can to get them to lead productive lives,"
he said before a legislative committee Wednesday.
Stermer added that the Quinn administration had not submitted a
legislative proposal and gave no timetable on when that would occur.
The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice began as an arm of
the Illinois Department of Corrections, the state agency that
oversees incarcerated adults and parolees. Four years ago, the
state's Department of Juvenile Justice became its own independent
agency.
IDJJ currently oversees 3,000 youths, according to current agency
head Kurt Friedenauer. Stermer indicated Friedenhauer would resign
at the end of the month to make way for Arthur Bishop, a top
official with the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services.
The public union AFSCME, or the American Federation of the State,
County and Municipal Employees, opposed the proposed merger of the
state agencies.
A recent study from the Illinois arm of AFSCME contended that
combining the two agencies would not solve the fundamental problems
associated with incarcerated youths, such as high recidivism rates
and substance abuse.
The study included a survey of AFSCME workers who worked with
youths and suggested changes to current programs.
From one surveyed AFSCME employee: "These youth need more
programs preparing them for life after parole -- living skills, job
skills, independent living, how to apply for a job. They leave here
without these skills and then reoffend. We send them home with a GED
certificate and no other training."
The report also indicated the overall reduction in staff within
the Department of Juvenile Justice.
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Eddie Caumiant, an AFSCME official who handles matters concerning
workers within juvenile justice and corrections agencies, said a
merger should not be the state's first move in addressing troubled
youths.
"It comes down to training (for workers). It comes down to a
transition that was the purported mission of DDJ when it was first
founded four years ago, which was to move to a therapeutic model. If
that's what we want to do, then we need to train staff to do that,"
he said.
Caumiant also expressed concern that the merger would give the
Quinn administration a way to reduce the union work force.
But Stermer said a merger would allow the Department of Juvenile
Justice to confer with the Department of Children and Family
Services on combining resources and knowledge and would help the
juvenile justice agency to leverage for federal funds through DCFS.
State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said he would reserve judgment
on the merger until he better understood what route would help
youths the most.
"I think we've heard over and over again that there are gaps in
mental health assessment, substance abuse assessment, educational
assessment. No one has yet demonstrated how those gaps are going to
be filled just by shuffling people around," he said.
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Broadview, head of the legislative
committee on public safety that met on Wednesday to discuss the
merger, said future meetings on the merger would be scheduled, but
she did not indicate an exact time.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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