Prince George's County work group hears SENS youth diversion presentation, capacity data

At a meeting of the Prince George's County Council Gun Violence Study Work Group, Hannah Atkinson, coordinator of the Children in Need of Support (SENS) program in the Department of Family Services'Children, Youth and Families Division, described the program's services, staffing and referral trends.

Atkinson said SENS is "a youth diversion, intervention and prevention program" that operates with a coordinator and three case managers, including one dedicated to districts 5 and 7. She said the program receives referrals from the Department of Juvenile Services, Prince George's County Public Schools, the Department of Social Services and from parents and community members.

The program, Atkinson said, is designed as a 90-day case-management track. "By measuring success, we do an assessment called a CAFIS," she said, adding case managers administer the assessment at 30, 60 and 90 days to track changes in school, home, substance use and mental-health domains.

Atkinson gave monthly referral and participation figures: SENS typically receives about 10 to 15 referrals per month, can make contact with roughly seven of those referrals, and has ongoing group participation of about seven to 10 youths. She said the summer enrichment program in July is a month-long, Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., program and that 10 youth were already verified for the coming summer session.

Atkinson described additional program elements: an eight-week parent-and-youth education course held twice a year (she said SENS runs roughly 16 parent-and-youth groups per year), a spring-break curriculum, and summer programming that uses Botvin's LifeSkills curriculum and a Shark Tank Junior entrepreneurship component. She said the Botvin curriculum has been shown in program materials to reduce some risky behaviors (Atkinson cited estimated reductions provided by the curriculum vendor: drug use by up to 75 percent, alcohol use by up to 60 percent, delinquency and physical aggression by up to 50 percent and tobacco use by up to 81 percent).

On staffing and access, Atkinson said each case manager typically carries a caseload policy cap of 20 to 25 youth but is currently averaging about 10 cases, leaving room to accept more referrals. She said SENS case managers are stationed at the juvenile courthouse in Upper Marlboro Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. to accept in-person referrals.

Oricia Madison, manager for the Children's, Youth and Families Division, clarified a frequent question about voluntary participation: "Under this particular funding from the Department of Juvenile Services is that it's that step right before that youth is, about to get a charge. So the in order for them not to get that charge, they they have to participate, but it's not mandatory," Madison said, describing how court- or agency-linked referrals can make participation effectively required to avoid charges in some circumstances.

Atkinson said SENS does not have a therapist on staff and refers families seeking clinical counseling to partner providers; the program also refers intensive cases to the local care team and uses governor's office funding and other resources to help families with food, workforce development and basic needs.

The work group chair said members asked for SENS's preferred community partners and a list of referral resources to improve outreach and help council members connect local organizations to county grants.

The work group had no formal vote related to the presentation; members said they would follow up by email for additional details and expected the program to be referenced in the work group's final recommendations.