Hampden County Juvenile Court’s Operation Profile Holds
Juvenile Offenders and their Families Accountable

Hampden County Juvenile Probation Officer Jose Zavala knocking on an offender's door.

Probation Officer Jose Zavala on a home visit with a juvenile offender.

          Hampden County Juvenile Probation Officers Rosa Maldonado-Brown and Jose Zavala—who both grew up in the community, attended college, and are raising families there- know the streets and neighborhoods of Springfield intimately. Maldonado-Brown and Zavala know the lives and family histories of the troubled children they supervise even better.

          On a recent chilly spring evening, they joined with Springfield Police Juvenile Detective Lance Holmes, who has served on the force for 25 years, on home supervision visits to juvenile offenders and court-involved youth. The three, who have more than 50 years experience combined, hopped into a light blue, unmarked cruiser and for several hours traversed the more than a dozen interconnecting neighborhoods that comprise Springfield as part of Operation Profile, an off-shoot of the Operation NightLight Program. Established in 1992, Operation NightLight pairs Probation Officers and local police who go on unannounced visits to offenders’ homes to enforce court orders as well as keep an eye on the lives and social conditions of offenders and their families.

          “The visits are important. It demonstrates that we are holding both the children and their parents accountable,” said Zavala.

          Maldonado-Brown, a 12-year Probation Officer, and Zavala, a 15-year veteran, are among a group of Probation Officers who work rotating shifts in community supervision efforts. Probation Officers from the Hampden County District and Superior courts also participate in an Operation Profile initiative that focuses on offenders from their courts.

          Using a white sheet filled with the names of juveniles, the Probation Officers pay a visit to those who skipped school, were pursued in a police chase, ignored curfews, fought at school, are disobedient to their parents/guardians, or were engaged in some form of gang activity. One planned visit was more of a wellness check on a 15-year-old mother of three: an 18-month-old toddler and a set of infant twins. This teen mother, Maldonado explains, got pregnant two weeks after she gave birth to the first child. The father of all three children is 15.

          This evening, Maldonado also planned to check on a pregnant runaway who has a Child In Need of Services (CHINS) and delinquency cases. The CHINS law assists parents in obtaining services for children who are exhibiting problem behaviors. Problem behaviors identified by the CHINS law include runaway, stubborn child, truant, and or school offender.

          “When she learned of her warrant, she went on the run and we are not sure that she is getting prenatal care. We are very concerned about her,” said Maldonado-Brown, who is herself a mother. “This is also a situation where we found that mom (the teenager’s mother) was using drugs.”

          Maldonado, Zavala and fellow Juvenile Probation Officers spend countless hours and evenings visiting-- and in some cases—tracking down children and their families. Maldonado recalled tracing a family of six to Binghamton, New York after they left town unannounced. Three of the six children were on probation. Maldonado painstakingly researched and later followed the school records of the two youngest children to the New York schools in order to locate their older siblings whom she supervised in Springfield.

          As Maldonado reveals the back stories of this family and others, she and Zavala enter the Mason Square area of Springfield where they must pay a visit to a youngster who lives in a housing development comprised of one-level town houses. In one window, is a collection of stereo speakers—large, black, box-shaped—stacked against the window blocking the view inside.

          Zavala walks up to the door of the next apartment which has a white sign in the window that reads “Do Not Knock! No 1 Allowed Inside.” He knocks for several minutes but no one answers. They make notes on the white sheet to follow up on the youngster and family who reside there.

          He and Maldonado jump into the light blue unmarked cruiser with Juvenile Detective Holmes at the wheel. Next, they travel to the home of a 15-year-old boy who recently moved from New York where he, his younger brother and mother lived in a homeless shelter.

          “His mother was in an abusive relationship and fled to Springfield with her children. Her son brought his gang affiliations with him and got into trouble in school—disturbing a school assembly. That is how he came to our attention,” said Maldonado-Brown.

          On this particular evening, Maldonado-Brown and Zavala find him at home cleaning his room and obeying his curfew. They, however, are aware that he has skipped classes and issue him a stern warning and order him to attend a probation program before leaving the apartment for their next unannounced visit.

          As he takes the wheel again, Springfield Juvenile Detective Holmes said, “Working with Probation Officers helps the police in dealing with the child. He should be more afraid of his Probation Officer who has a bigger effect on his future.”

          Maldonado-Brown said the visits to the community enable Probation Officers to get more information from neighbors about the juvenile. “When they see us in the community, they (neighbors) are often friendly and tend to share,” she said. “We’re not 8 to 4:30. We will monitor those conditions even after the court is closed,” she said.

          She and Zavala are two of a rotating group of Hampden County Juvenile Probation Officers who participate in Operation Profile. The court also works closely with police on visits to the schools where the offenders and court-involved youngsters attend. The probation department’s jurisdiction is comprised of 23 cities and towns, including Agawam, Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield, West Springfield, and Longmeadow.

          “We are an extremely busy court and our Probation Officers supervise children and families who face a myriad of challenges. Operation Profile is an essential part of our Probation work here in Hampden County.”

*** Update on runaway, pregnant teen: One week after the Operation Profile visits, Maldonado-Brown had good news about the case of the pregnant runaway. She returned home. However, when her mother attempted to get her daughter to surrender herself before the court, the teen became combative and police were called.

The teen was arrested and taken into custody and charged with assault and battery against her mother. Maldonado has arranged for the teen to receive prenatal care.