Porter County approves grant-funded full-time occupational therapist for juvenile services

Porter County approved a grant-funded staffing expansion for juvenile services on a unanimous vote, authorizing line-item additions to pay for a full-time occupational therapist who will provide crisis intervention and re-entry supports for justice-involved youth.

"We really need a whole system approach," said Allison Cox, juvenile detention center director, describing a program developed after a capstone partnership with Rush University and designed to serve high-risk youth across detention, day reporting and intensive supervision. Cox said the position would provide on-call crisis intervention to families and coordinate placements to avoid incarcerating youth for incidents rooted in trauma or family conflict.

Cox told the council the project will also partner with the Boys and Girls Club to enroll identified youth in leadership programming and track outcomes with performance measures the Department of Correction requested. "This is going to help change a trajectory," Cox said, and the county will monitor data and report outcomes to the department.

The council approved several budget line changes to accept the grant and pay related salary and benefit costs; the transcript records an approved salary addition of $81,780 and associated FICA, medical/life, PERF and contractual-service lines. Council roll calls recorded unanimous support for the grant actions.

Cox acknowledged the grant application is annual and said she will return if ongoing county funding becomes necessary; she said she expects the Department of Correction to continue funding if the program demonstrates the promised outcomes. She also asked the council to distribute the department's virtual annual report and performance metrics to the members.

The council’s action authorizes the county to proceed with hiring and grant implementation; Cox said the program will emphasize community partnership and data collection to demonstrate effectiveness.