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Juvenile program works to help youth
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of articles about this region’s juvenile service programs.)

Trying to keep young people maturing and out of trouble is the work of a regional agency that is housed in Barton County and Juvenile Services Director Laurie White recent presented an overview report for the Barton County Commission.
In it, in part, White reported:
The 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services serves a five county area consisting of Barton, Stafford, Ellsworth, Rice and Russell Counties. 
Juvenile Services is the host agency for six separate programs available to all youth and families in the Judicial District.  Those programs consist of Juvenile Intake and Assessment, Juvenile Intensive Supervision Probation, Community Case Management, Teen Court, Project S.T.A.Y. (School Truancy Alternative for Youth), and Journey to Change. 
These programs represent a “continuum of care” that provides a variety of services from prevention to intervention and ending with graduated sanctions programs. 
We have programs that are attended on a voluntary basis and those that are court ordered that involve informal supervision to adjudication.
Each judicial district is required to have the three core programs operational at the local level:
• Juvenile Intake and Assessment (JIAS)
• Juvenile Intensive Supervision Probation (JISP)
• Community Case Management (CCMA)
Juvenile Justice Authority distributes funds to the administrative county in each judicial district for the operation of these programs.
Technical assistance is provided by JJA to assist districts in the delivery of services to youth who come in contact with these community based juvenile justice programs. Standards and procedures are developed to provide guidance in the operation of these programs.
The Juvenile Intensive Supervision Program is an American Correction Association accredited program that was developed to provide an alternative for juvenile offenders in lieu of removal from the home. 
JISP is designed to provide structured and frequent contacts with an intensive supervision officer.