The Independence School District (ISD)'s Juvenile Restorative Services Program evolved from examining more than a decade of youth intervention, performance and outcome data from the District's highly successful Success Court program.

Using restorative practices and a strengths-based approach, the program will assist students and families to identify and work collaboratively to resolve various social, emotional and behavioral challenges that have interfered with the students’ ability to thrive and learn, and that have led to the students’ participation in ISD’s Long-term Suspension (LTS) process. Specifically, the program will work strategically with both educational and community-based partners to identify a targeted case load of youths to enter into an intensive relationship of individualized case management with a professional social worker, with services to include, but not limited to, school- and program-based triage with a mentor; youth and family-centered home visiting; and ongoing referral support to external resources as necessary.

The target population identified for the program include middle and high school youths within the Independence School District, ages 11 to 18, who have received long-term suspensions during the current school year. Students having received a long-term suspension generally have received the highest disciplinary action as a result of their engagement with one or more risk factors including drugs and alcohol use, weapons possession, assault/fighting, persistent opposition, and/or substantiated violence.

Drawing from the successes and intervention best-practices of ISD’s Success Court model, this new program seeks to enhance the ISD’s approach to family support services by making the strategy fully comprehensive—from early identification and prevention, to restoring and recovering youth and their families with dignity and self-driven determination. Through COMBAT funding, the Juvenile Restorative Services program will fully fund one FTE Restorative Services Case Manager to assist families to recover from the setbacks, negative actions, consequences and trauma associated with the youths’ long-term suspension by helping to identify and heal the offending behaviors, and empowering the youth to return to his or her mainstream learning environment as soon as possible.

COMBAT Funding: $45,000.00