Kids in Crisis: Seeking solutions for a broken system

Oct. 16—GRAND RAPIDS — Cole Williams never realized he would become an advocate for juvenile justice until his son was arrested by police 12 years ago.

"I didn't know much about the system until my son was incarcerated," Williams said.

His son, who was 13 at the time of his first arrest, was diagnosed as mentally ill with a history of explosive anger that would sometimes erupt in violence.

That episodic anger was a result of trauma he had endured as a child before he was adopted by Williams from the mental health foster care system in Michigan.

When he called police that day, Williams recalled, his intention was to help his son get the services he needed — and to give them time to de-escalate the situation.

Instead, the next day, he found himself plugging in the address for the Grand Rapids Juvenile Detention Facility to visit his son. He hadn't expected that.

"Here I was, thrust into this system, and I had no control over what was happening," Williams said.

With his background in social work, it eventually became Williams' mission to work as a translator for other parents entering the family court system, helping them to understand the potential services to offering classes to the kids in the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center. That was 2014.

Then, last year, his work propelled him to join Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Michigan Task Force for Juvenile Justice Reform.

Williams said his goal now is to help change a system that confounds many families and doesn't help many children in Michigan.

Task force recommendations

The task force, which was initially formed in June 2021, is made up of leaders from across branches of government, state and local agencies and people like Williams, who have come face-to-face with systemic issues.

It was charged with examining a system that was not working — one plagued with shortages of all kinds, confusion on a county-by-county basis, lack of data and even arbitrary cruelty where kids ended up confined for long periods.

"I was excited to be part of the task force because it was focused on solutions," Williams said.

Whitmer gave the task force a year to conduct its research and work with the nonprofit Council of State Governments. The group met regularly, took testimonies, formed focus groups — all with the goal of including as many voices as possible, Williams said.

Earlier this summer, and after more than nine months of deliberation, the task force released its findings and recommendations.

It identified 10 dangerous gaps in the system, including a lack of strong policy, data collection and funding incentives that could prevent kids from entering the system in the first place and ensure kids get the help they need when they do enter the system.

Each problem that was identified included potential solutions.

As for solving the shortages in residential mental health and detention facilities, the task force recommended forming a statewide residential advisory committee.

This committee is to be composed of juvenile justice association members, local representatives, tribal representatives, advocates, prosecutors, defense attorneys and other stakeholders.

This group's charge is to work to strengthen local detention and privately-operated residential facilities and set standards for the quality-of-care that children would receive.

At the same time, it would keep in-home placement as the most viable options — except in special situations, such as when the child is acting violently.

The task force went so far as to recommend barring out-of-home detention, except in cases of "imminent threats to public safety." That recommendation meant that behavioral health episodes, such as the ones Williams' son had experienced, would not immediately result in the child being locked up.

The proposed residential advisory committee also would establish a clearinghouse where data would be stored and distributed, providing a resource for all placement options in the state.

Dr. Paul Elam, task force member and chief strategy officer for the Michigan Public Health Institute, said initiatives like this are crucial because of the severe lack of centralized data collection — a problem that has persisted throughout the system in all aspects of the task force's findings.

"We're not measuring anything," Elam said. "And, until now, we've not even made investments to measure things."

The task force recommended that the State Court Administrative Office establish protocols for local courts to follow when compiling data and reporting it.

The group also said SCAO should develop an annual, publicly-available statewide data report on key performance measures.

Those are just a few of the 32 recommendations from the task force. But how far do those "recommendations" actually go?

According to Derrick McCree, director of the Juvenile Justice Division at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who served as a representative on the task force, the recommendations will be sent to the governor's office for individual approval.

After that, the state will start on an implementation plan with the Council on State Government, which will push the recommendations into law, either through legislative policy or infrastructure improvements.

Some of it has already started, he said.

More funds for facilities, staff

The 2023 state budget includes a $325 million allocation for mental health services.

MDHHS Public Information Officer Bob Wheaton wrote that some of this money will be used to increase payments to facilities for staff wages and development projects.

"A lack of trained pediatric behavioral health providers statewide is the biggest driver behind access issues for our kids and families obtaining medically necessary inpatient care," Wheaton said.

"Rather than lack of physical beds, this unprecedented staffing shortage is the key concern at this time."

A total of $6.2 million was already distributed to facilities this spring. Next year, MDHHS will provide a total of $50 million, outlined in the state and supplemental budgets, to youth mental health facilities and foster care. Fiscal year 2023 started on Oct. 1.

Grand Traverse Family Court Administrator Kristyn Brendel said retaining youth mental health professionals means improving incentives to work in facilities.

"It's the economy; these jobs aren't free," she said. "Why would you want to go and get assaulted by kids all day when you could go to McDonald's or somewhere and get paid $10 more an hour?"

The budget also includes $10.5 million to operate two additional units in the Hawthorne Center in Northville which will increase the total number of youth inpatient psychiatric beds in the state. Eventually, though, the budget calls for the facility to be replaced with a new psychiatric facility.

Wheaton underscored MDHHS's priority to improving community-based services for children to reduce the need for inpatient hospitalization.

In the meantime, grassroots efforts are pushing to put policy and funding into real results

Lock-up alternatives

The Michigan Center for Youth Justice is one of the oldest advocacy groups in the state. It was instrumental in pushing the "Raise the Age" legislation to be approved in 2019 and continues to advance equitable youth justice policies.

Jason Smith is executive director there and served on the state task force.

He says his organization wants to protect children so they aren't harmed by the system. They're encouraging alternatives to detention facilities.

"When young people are under juvenile court supervision, we believe all efforts should be made to provide them with quality treatment programs to address their needs while remaining at home with their families," Smith said. "Alternatives to confinement should always be explored and exhausted before removing youth from their home and restricting their freedom of movement."

Alternatives include respite care, specialized foster homes, electronic monitoring, and increased visits with probation staff, he said.

Smith said his center supports all the recommendations made by the task force, especially the recommendation calling for the elimination of most juvenile court fines and fees. That recommendation could be signed into law by the end of this year.

In addition, the group advocated for new funding for the In-Home Care Grant, also included in the fiscal year 2023 budget for MDHHS. The In-Home Care grant will provide funding to rural counties to establish or expand already existing alternatives to confinement.

Smith said these are more cost-effective alternatives to confinement and have been proven to produce better outcomes for youth.

"People want to make a positive impact for kids and want to shift the system to one that is focused on restoration and rehabilitation," Smith said. "I hope that this is a real moment for change in the state."

Yet, when dealing with complex, systemic issues like the ones being experienced in the Michigan juvenile justice system, Smith said state task forces and budget allocations can only go so far.

Eventually, it will take other systems that regularly interact with young people, such as schools and community mental health programs, to get creative and focus on repairing harm to victims or communities.

Sometimes it falls to people like Cole Williams, who volunteers his own time and energy into making sure juveniles and their families feel like they have some support in the system.

After his son's interactions with family court, he said he thought to himself, "How can I take my experience and utilize it to help other parents going through the same thing?"

Since then, in addition to helping Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and the rest of the task force come up with recommendations to reform the juvenile justice system, he founded The Delta Project, a storytelling initiative that allows kids in the juvenile justice system to reclaim, and retell, their own stories.

Williams' son, now 25 years old, is currently in the Kent County Jail awaiting trial.

He and his family are still trying to help him, but now that he's an adult, that task has become far more challenging.

At least now, Williams said, he understands how the system works, and he's fighting to change it for others so their outcomes will be different.