Audit of the Department of Youth Services Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Department of Youth Services

Overview

Under Chapter 18A of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Department of Youth Services (DYS), within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, is the Commonwealth’s juvenile justice agency, which provides educational, psychological, and health services to juvenile offenders. During the audit period, DYS served 1,606 committed¹ youths and had 2,167 detention admissions and 1,934 overnight arrest admissions.

DYS has six regional locations across Massachusetts, located at 600 Washington Street, Fourth Floor, in Boston (the Central Office); 288 Lyman Street in Westborough (the Central Region office); 425 Harvard Street in Dorchester (the Metro Region office); 33 Gregory Street in Middleton (the Northeast Region office); 60 Hodges Avenue in Taunton (the Southeast Region office); and 280 Tinkham Road in Springfield (the Western Region office).

As of June 30, 2019, DYS had 837 full-time state employees, more than 80% of whom were employed in a direct-care role, and there were 443 provider staff members employed in residential programs run by DYS providers. In fiscal years 2018 and 2019, DYS’s annual appropriations were approximately $180 million and $178 million, respectively.

DYS Program Services

DYS-detained and DYS-committed youths are served by the following state- and provider-operated programs:

• forty-three residential programs, including staff-secure and hardware-secure programs,² that provide educational, vocational, recreational, clinical, medical, and behavioral-health services, including mental and substance abuse treatment
• three reception centers that provide community-based services for detained youths who present lower risk profiles
• three independent-living programs that provide residential and community services to older youths whose aftercare is designed around independent living
• twenty-one district offices that provide case management, community services, and daily supervision for up to 250 youths who are living with parents, guardians, or foster parents or in transitional living programs
• nine overnight arrest programs that serve the short-term overnight needs of local police departments by providing overnight accommodations for youths arrested during evenings and weekends, pending their initial court appearances

DYS also offers the Youth Engaged in Services program. This program, according to the DYS fiscal year 2019 annual report, provides “voluntary, post-discharge transition services to all committed youth discharged at 18 and all youthful offenders discharged at 21.”

Youth Level of Service / Case Management Inventory

The Youth Level of Service / Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) is a risk assessment tool that DYS uses to assess a youth’s level of risk of reoffending and how much supervision the youth will need for a seamless transition back into the community. YLS/CMI results help DYS caseworkers develop case management plans (CMPs) for each of their assigned youths, since such plans include services a youth needs to mitigate the risk of reoffending. According to the DYS Case Management Practice and Procedure Manual, a CMP has one of four risk levels, as determined by the youth’s score on the YLS/CMI: (1) “very high,” (2) “high,” (3) “moderate,” and (4) “low.”

Levels of Community Supervision

Levels of Community Supervision is a classification used in conjunction with the YLS/CMI to classify youths in DYS custody according to their levels of risk of reoffending and determine the level of supervision they will need for a seamless transition back into their communities. These scores are reassessed at least every six months and use the four risk levels of the YLS/CMI to categorize three levels of supervision. According to DYS’s Case Management Practice and Procedure Manual, a YLS/CMI score of “very high” or “high” corresponds to Level 3, a score of “moderate” corresponds to Level 2, and a score of “low” corresponds to Level 1.

CMPs

CMPs contain services and activities related to the individual needs of each youth who has been assigned to a DYS caseworker. A CMP is submitted two weeks before the release date of a youth in DYS custody and contains the youth’s YLS/CMI risk level. A DYS caseworker completes 30-, 60-, and 90-day Community Re-entry Reviews, which are reviews of how a youth is progressing back into the community and is discussed with both the youth and the youth’s family. After these Community Re-entry Reviews, the youth’s caseworker continues to review the CMP with the youth and the family each month until the youth is no longer in DYS custody.

Internal Reviews and Investigations of Child Abuse and/or Neglect

Section 51A(a) of Chapter 119 of the General Laws requires mandated reporters to immediately report to the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) when they have reasonable cause to believe that a child under the age of 18 has experienced emotional or physical injury as a result of abuse and/or neglect. DCF uses these reports, called 51A reports, to gather sufficient evidence to evaluate each allegation to assess the safety of the child/ren.

When DCF determines that a 51A report is to be screened out, no further investigation is required. DCF notifies the responsible state agency within two working days of its decision and closes the report.

DCF determines that a 51A report is to be screened in if the findings meet DCF’s criteria for suspected child abuse and/or neglect, pursuant to DCF Policy 85-005, “51A Investigations in Certain Institutional Settings.” Pursuant to Section 51B of Chapter 119 of the General Laws, DCF then conducts an investigation called a 51B investigation and takes follow-up actions (and/or recommends such actions to the responsible state agency).

DCF either supports or unsupports suspected child abuse and/or neglect after completing a 51B investigation. “Support” means that DCF has decided it has reasonable cause to believe that the abuse and/or neglect occurred. “Unsupport” means that DCF has decided it has no reasonable cause to believe that the abuse and/or neglect occurred.

Juvenile Justice Enterprise Management System

The Juvenile Justice Enterprise Management System (JJEMS) is a case management system designed for DYS to provide comprehensive youth-centered information and reports about youths in its care and custody. DYS caseworkers provide updates on meetings in JJEMS to document the progress of their assigned youths.

1.    DYS refers to detained youths (those who are awaiting trial) as youths in its care and to committed youths (those who have been convicted) as youths in its custody.

2.    Staff-secure programs, in which staff members monitor youths’ behavior to prevent them from leaving, provide services to youths who have been committed for minor violations. Hardware-secure programs, which use physical means such as locked doors to prevent youths from leaving, provide services to youths who have been committed for serious violations.

Date published:	March 14, 2022