LMB has administrative, fiscal, monitoring and evaluation oversight responsibilities for the following:
LMB currently administers two distinct after school program options:
1. Out-of-school time programs to offer a variety of youth development activities at Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) branches throughout the County. At seven branches (those which serve a higher risk youth population), BCPL will offer weekly or biweekly programs in the after school hours, such as a mentoring program sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Maryland. Periodic programs will be offered at all 15 branches. All programs offered will address a variety of youth developmental assets that will benefit youth in their transition to responsible adulthood, and BCPL will base programming choices on enhancement of developmental assets as well as input from the youth. Baltimore County Public Library is provider.
2. Therapeutic program for youth with disabilities at three special education facilities – Maiden Choice, Ridge Ruxton and Battle Monument. Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, Office of Therapeutic Services is the service provider.
Pilot program intended to divert status offenders from deeper involvement with the juvenile justice system by providing early identification and intervention services to youth and their families. In providing certain assessment and case planning services to CINS youth prior to any case handling decision by DJS Intake, the CINS Diversion Program is able to assist CINS youth and their families in accessing needed services, perhaps precluding the need for further involvement with DJS. The Counseling Unit of the Baltimore County Police Department is the service provider.
A community conference is a facilitated meeting of the community of people affected by behavior that has caused serious harm. The goal of the conference is to understand what happened and to create an agreement that will repair the harm and guide future interactions among participants as needed. Community conferencing is an effective tool to address incidents that could otherwise result in school suspensions or traditional juvenile justice measures. Community Conferencing is a program that is currently operational and administered by the Baltimore County Department of Health, Bureau of Mental Health.
Program provides alternative services to County youth referred through the Local Coordinating Council who otherwise would require placement in a residential treatment center or similar program. MD Choices, LLC is the vendor.
The Baltimore County Disproportionate Minority Contact Reduction Initiative is a multi-systemic and collaborative effort designed to reduce the overrepresentation of minority youth in Baltimore County's juvenile justice system and to reduce the number of unnecessary admissions to secure detention facilities. The DMC Initiative consists of both administrative policy reform strategies and programmatic interventions focused squarely on realizing these two goals. The DMC Initiative is guided by the Baltimore County DMC Planning and Oversight Committee, a body led by Judge Kathleen Cox of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, and Paul Bowden of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. The DMC Oversight Committee is comprised of representatives from the full compliment of local child-serving agencies. The Initiative has produced notable juvenile justice system reform, as well as programs and interventions that are proving successful in reducing disproportionate minority contact and unnecessary secure detention admissions. The DMC Initiative supports at-risk youth in their efforts to move beyond involvement with the juvenile justice system in order that they may become productive and engaged citizens of Baltimore County.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on the federal level and the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention on the state level provide funding for local implementation of efforts to reduce disproportionate minority contact. The W. Haywood Burns Institute is a leading national organization in the DMC Initiative, providing training and technical assistance on best practices.
Functional Family Therapy, an evidence-based practice, is an empirically grounded, well-documented and highly successful family intervention program for youth. Target populations range from at-risk preadolescents to youth with very serious problems such as conduct disorder, violent acting-out and substance abuse. Intervention averages from 8 to 12 one-hour sessions for mild cases and up to 30 sessions of direct service for more difficult situations, usually spread over a three month period. FFT also provides treatment to the younger siblings of referred adolescents. The Baltimore County Department of Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse, is the vendor.
Healthy families is a home visiting program for at-risk moms/families identified prenatally or within the first 2 weeks of baby's life. Target areas are Dundalk, Rosedale, Essex and Middle River communities, focus is on the strengths/needs of the family. Home visitor may stay involved with family for up to 5 years. Abilities Network, Inc. is the vendor.
The Local Coordinating Council is an interagency body established in each local subdivision in the State for the purpose of developing and implementing plans of care for the residential placement, or alternatives to residential placement of children with special needs. The purpose of the LCC is to coordinate available resources in order to ensure that children are served in the “least restrictive, most community based manner possible." More information on the LCC is availbale from the Governor's Office for Children.
Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), an evidence-based practice, is a cost-effective, highly structured and multi-component treatment model that will divert 10-14 youth involved with the Department of Jevenile Services from placement in a residential treatment center or out-of-state facility. Youth will be placed individually in a family setting for six to nine months. MTFC foster families will work closely with a clinical team to provide youth with a consistent, reinforcing environment that builds on individuals strengths; a clear structure and limits with well-specified consequences that are delivered in a teaching oriented way; close supervision of the youth's whereabouts; and help for the youth in avoiding associations with anti-social peers while assisting the youth in developing the skills for building relationships with positive peers. Simultaneously, MTFC therapists prepare the youth's biological family or aftercare resource to provide youth with effective parenting so that the positive changes made while the youth are placed in MTFC can be sustained over the long-run. A vendor to provide services in the County will be chosen via the competitive procurement process in the fall of 2008. Nationally, TFC Consultants, Inc. provide training and technical assistance to organizations desiring to implement MTFC.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST), an evidence-based practice, is an intensive, home-based intervention for identified youth and their families employing a patented treatment strategy that focuses on reducing antisocial behavior of adolescents by addressing the various systems that influence their behavior, including family members, peers, schools and neighborhoods. MST is a treatment that strives to change how youth function in their natural settings (home, school, and neighborhood) in ways that promote positive social behavior while decreasing antisocial behavior. Baltimore County Department of Health, Bureau of Mental Health serves as the program gatekeeper, Community Services, Inc., is the vendor.
The Baltimore County Neighborhood Statistical Profile serves to advance the well-being of children and families in Baltimore County by empowering decision-makers, service providers and the community with accurate, reliable, compelling data. The NSP will support data-driven decision making by creating and maintaining a clearinghouse of data concerning children, youth and families in the County.
The LMB, with assistance from the County's Office of Information Technology, has developed geo-coding software to enable the NSP to process address-level data into relevant products that allow for in-depth analysis and informed decision making while maintaining privacy and security. The products (maps, geographic analyses) are used by members of the Local Management Board in determining the location, scope and funding for intervention and prevention programs, as need is demonstrated. Where address-level data is not available to the NSP, the Board is forced to rely on data that does not allow for community level analysis, thereby leaving considerable guesswork in the placement and scope of these programs. The LMB maintains the NSP.
This initiative funds social workers who are out-stationed at four eastside elementary schools (Hawthorne, Glenmar, Martin Boulevard and Victory Villa) to provide counseling, information and referral, interagency linkages and advocacy services on a year-round basis. Baltimore County Department of Social Services is the service provider.
The LMB has partnered with 2-1-1 Maryland as an information and referral resource and as the single point of access to services for Baltimore County families of children with intensive needs. United Way/First Call for Help is the vendor. The LMB is funding a part-time Family Navigator to provide education and support to families and to assist families with intensive needs children to negotiate their way through the social and heath care system. Villa Maria Continuum is the vendor. Contact the Family Navigator, the Family Resource Center at Villa Maria Continuum, 410-252-4700 x265 for more information.
Program provides targeted services at Dundalk, Deep Creek, and Colgate elementary schools. A social worker is assigned to each school to provide intensive case management services to identified students and their families with the goal of removing barriers to school attendance. The service provider is Baltimore County Department of Social Services.
Program provides an array of services to divert families from relinquishing custody of their child who has been hospitalized or in residential treatment center placement, to include: access to up to 45 days in a therapeutic group home or treatment foster care home; training in Family Group Decision Making protocol; respite services; case management. Baltimore County Department of Health, Bureau of Mental Health serves as the program gatekeeper, Villa Maria Continuum is the vendor.
Youth Service Bureaus are community-based agencies that provide individual, family, and group counseling; crisis intervention; information and referral; substance abuse assessment; and suicide prevention services. Lighthouse, First Step, and Dundalk Youth Services Center are the designated youth services bureaus serving Baltimore County.
- Maryland Opportunity Compact development as an alternative funding source for MST, in partnership with Safe and Sound Campaign, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Charles Crane Family Foundation, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, and the County's Bureau of Mental Health;
- Group home impact project with one-time-only funds; and
- Early Childhood Action Agenda implementation.
Revised September 5, 2008
Courthouse 