[{"_1":2,"_112":-5,"_113":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88,100],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6387539,"mediaKeyId","2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786","parentId",2116380,"title","OPEGA briefing finds gaps in Department of Juvenile Services' community services, data and oversight","audioSeconds",360,"startMs",0,"endMs",360000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786&start=0&end=360","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786/thumbnail_0.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6387539/Maryland/OPEGA-briefing-finds-gaps-in-Department-of-Juvenile-Services-community-services-data-and-oversight","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387539-17200bb7a15c4c2491e0be83abefb11c/orig.mp4?Expires=1771170579&Signature=inXTkyf7udu3Aa7QsrJqJtOlZJFyrofdgV6FxjuV3RwkKRxRhLG65dnw-tgZF-AV2YI2p0XCMDR0o32CXyOO61cOU36CNGWs9drDKVhDS~-POs-WhKhO8NYhzTKVHMKthzKCHOngJd1C41ka0I0xlpxj4iUgEqjYpbPPub6e-0R96UF5VjSs9mm30BlLnq~9miHbblcYcsiN0ziWfUwXkk2gcGQrfPlm-pNSMlXcWaZuCEKMhTH7x-90GMnpNRVnvFhAfN8NnGBy-a2E8OtQ-5mXVkGIv6qKgs1J9IYhbFiUgH5345giTnDjzk0Kimxh1SpS3ua69P8VzpMtfCNrpQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","MGA - JPR","date","2025-01-15T00:00:00Z","article","OPEGA presented its evaluation of the Department of Juvenile Services to the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Jan. 15, 2025, reporting that DJS lacks consistent oversight of community-based providers and that its case management systems limit the agency’s ability to measure outcomes.

The OPEGA director, Mike Powell, told the committee that his office was asked by the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee to examine DJS performance. “We don't work for DJS. We're not contractors or consultants. We work for you,” Powell said, describing OPEGA as “nonpartisan, objective, sort of fact-based staff.”

OPEGA's report covered long-term juvenile referral trends, community-based nonresidential services, DJS oversight of contractors, use of SINS (children in need of supervision) referrals and case histories of 15 youths later indicted in a series of armed robberies and carjackings. The office identified several shortcomings the department can address quickly and several longer-term gaps that will require new data systems or additional resources.

Most important findings

OPEGA highlighted four areas of concern:
- Oversight and performance data: DJS’s contractor oversight is largely fiscal — ensuring invoices match contracts — with limited validated performance monitoring to show whether providers improve youth outcomes.
- Noncontractual referrals and tracking: OPEGA found many community placements are to programs with no contractual relationship to DJS and limited DJS visibility into whether those sites delivered services or produced results.
- Case management limits: The department’s ASSIST database stores narrative case notes but does not reliably support queries that would let analysts measure provider referrals, wait times or outcomes at scale.
- Intake decision inconsistency: The intake decision tool (IDT) is not followed consistently; in a sample of cases the tool’s guidance was followed a little more than half the time, and local practices varied widely by county.

Why it matters

OPEGA emphasized that roughly 6,000 DJS-involved youths a year receive community-based nonresidential services and that timely connection to services matters. The office found that only about 30% of sampled second-degree-assault intakes had evidence of a referral to a DJS-contracted community-based provider, and that delays from DJS intake to provider intake often ran 30 to 40 days. OPEGA warned those waits can blunt the effectiveness of early interventions.

Selected published figures cited in the presentation included: recent monthly referrals around 1,000 (down from as many as 3,000 a month 10 years ago), about half of community-based youths are informal cases and half are probation cases, and a long-term shift toward judges imposing probation rather than commitment (roughly an 80/20 split for probation vs. commitment among adjudicated youth in recent years).

OPEGA recommendations

Powell told the committee OPEGA recommends DJS enhance ASSIST or adopt a modern case management system; replicate local best practices statewide; collect and validate performance data for contractual providers; improve visibility into providers’ staffing and capacity; and expand evidence-based providers in areas of unmet need (OPEGA specifically noted no evidence-based providers were available in Baltimore City for a top-tier service type).

Powell said his office had attempted an outcome analysis — whether youth who receive community services fare better than similar peers who do not — but the available data were insufficient to produce a defensible published finding. “Ultimately, we didn't come up with an answer to that question that we felt confident that we could publish,” Powell said.

What the committee asked

Members pressed OPEGA on staff interviews, whether employees felt free to speak candidly and whether site-level staff were consulted. Powell replied staff were “very transparent” with data and candid in conversations. Senators also pressed OPEGA on recidivism measures, geographic differences in intake decisions, and the practical implications of departures from the intake decision tool.

Ending

OPEGA delivered a fact-focused inventory of process gaps and evidence shortfalls that it said DJS and the legislature can address. The report urges faster, validated data collection, clearer performance measures for providers and targeted expansion of evidence-based programs where children lack access to proven services.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","JPR Committee Session, 1/15/2025 #1","oneSentenceSummary","OPEGA presented its evaluation of the Department of Juvenile Services to the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Jan. 15, 2025, reporting that DJS lacks consistent oversight of community-based providers and that its case management systems limit the agency’s ability to measure outcomes.","taxTitle","Judicial Proceedings Committee, SENATE, SENATE, Committees, Legislative, Maryland","taxId",15095,"location","Maryland","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6387525,"Committee presses DJS on staff safety, monitoring and facility operations amid reports of assaults",168,4574000,4742000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786&start=4574&end=4742","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786/thumbnail_4574000.jpg","/articles/6387525/Maryland/Committee-presses-DJS-on-staff-safety-monitoring-and-facility-operations-amid-reports-of-assaults","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387525-85094196063d8a3528c1028100b6c8c4/orig.mp4?Expires=1771170579&Signature=W-ZUZSYy6yRRdTrxxRg3lRT2gjH1Aix0ljJEyWKI--FjQ38Ysntg3KNRzlleE52rFJTz-VnxYAYbu-WaiVDUrk~c~d0AX8WKlNQC4QiAdrkOPeFk3ANqTHSC0Y~fJF8GQJEXEt4i5epzGsR7Hw0yDH8~wUbYY4Sqc~MWjJ4JoltcQ9~ci9AOPpR0bzObkNIybJc~x94kMpowo6WIiqV-72ex5IJGvn~Oh-6QbESKzCdsWdLD9uggRu0Cu~uT3PKz8IcFV8QezOu7JPtFrvHxvXVCCIBzhvptToKGNhjEqzqotw1Rkv0bl2sKga1pu8IJwzN2HCogphyW76G5uW6B-Q__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Committee members used the OPEGA briefing to press department officials on staff safety and facility operations. Several senators described reports from frontline staff that assaults and disruptive incidents in some residential centers have increased and probed whether leadership had adequate visibility and response plans.

Secretary Vinny Schiraldi responded that staffing vacancies had declined from about a 16% vacancy rate when he arrived to roughly 11% overall and lower in some direct-care classifications. He said DJS trains staff in de-escalation and restraint protocols and convenes labor-management teams at facilities with persistent problems. “We train the staff on how to deescalate,” Schiraldi said, adding the agency tracks restraints and incidents and develops localized plans to reduce violence.

On monitoring protocols and video/phone practices, Schiraldi said DJS no longer records routine phone calls from juveniles in facilities, explaining in testimony, “It is not the industry standard to tape children's phone calls from juvenile facilities.” He said video recordings and other operational tools remain in use at many sites but acknowledged local variation and that the juvenile justice monitoring unit and the newly created correctional ombudsman have roles in oversight.

Lawmakers asked for specific data and outcomes

Senators asked for incident and workers' compensation metrics, trends in assaults and vacancy data; the secretary said some of those numbers would be provided to the committee and noted DJS's annual data resource guide would be released before the end of the month. Members raised concerns about isolation of frontline perspectives and urged DJS to continue labor-management engagement at facilities with repeated incidents.

Ending

DJS agreed to provide data requested by the committee, to continue facility-level labor-management work, and to coordinate with the juvenile justice monitoring unit and the correctional ombudsman to ensure staff safety and transparency.","Committee members pressed DJS leaders on staff safety and facility operations, raising reports from frontline employees about assaults and disturbances in some residential centers.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6387529,"Audit finds data gaps; committee presses DJS on recidivism, intake tool and case management",731,1021000,1752000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786&start=1021&end=1752","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786/thumbnail_1021000.jpg","/articles/6387529/Maryland/Audit-finds-data-gaps-committee-presses-DJS-on-recidivism-intake-tool-and-case-management","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387529-97d09d66da255bcfa62e93dce21e9c23/orig.mp4?Expires=1771170579&Signature=Im27mnXd3e95kfdr2p7TChD-6BICzgRAlSlkoIyDZPOEd1Z4Frg13VnFdO2eDFd15qVw4bjXacTBWfYK-pWhg1Eokct-e~FaphY-XHm5ZNoPZJH1gQ9DmQNYyg9PQ7cimaVmWumgvIH-BY9PKRvaBSps~hP8dq34NLlEWpsNR9SIsM6mDLr-Co~IZZ07Ej17-InhMLHVSseykJUGx0MTL0HJ2dxP71~A1SwKg2wh2pEqllZkn0G9pd6~77m4IZeeUWWWpaLBtHTM4uhBzuVlxAAwMlQawK~dMZ8RuvR4jOg4catcJXMQ90-uMjDBuCXLfWKwBtqLWGBrgyWX0Q~85g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","OPEGA told the committee it could not answer whether youth who receive DJS-contracted community services are measurably better off than similar youth who do not. The limitation, the audit said, stems from how DJS records referrals, narrative case notes in ASSIST and differing local practices around noncontract referrals.

In testimony, OPEGA and DJS described specific data limitations and short-term responses:
- Outcome analysis shortfall: OPEGA attempted a matched comparison for a service-effectiveness question but concluded the available records were insufficient to publish a confident result. “Ultimately, we didn't come up with an answer to that question that we felt confident that we could publish,” Mike Powell said.
- Case-management systems: The department has used ASSIST for years; a more recent CJAMS effort did not meet staff needs and was not fully deployed. DJS said it will issue an RFP for a new system and pursue interim fixes to allow staff to quantify key inputs (noncontract referrals, referral dates, provider intake dates).
- Intake Decision Tool (IDT): OPEGA sampled intake cases and found the IDT's recommendation was followed a little more than half the time. Senators asked why staff routinely overrode the tool; OPEGA said overrides sometimes reflect statutory constraints, concurrent court processes or local resource realities.

Recidivism measures and related metrics

Committee members emphasized that measures of reoffending are central to judging program effectiveness. Dr. Aaron Betzinger described existing dashboards for evidence-based programs and said DJS and his research team plan to add post-discharge arrest tracking and disaggregation by race, gender and supervision status.

OPEGA noted several practical statistics in the hearing: Powell said, based on an informal calculation, about 60% of youth who come to DJS for a first intake do not return; about 20% return more than once. He also cited that among the sampled group of youths later indicted in violent crimes the majority had prior DJS involvement, with an average age at first contact of 13.

Committee direction and next steps

Lawmakers asked for documents, the IDT instrument and more detailed scoring information. DJS agreed to short-term fixes to quantify referrals within 90 days, to share the IDT and to work with academic partners to produce recidivism analyses by the end of the fiscal year.","Lawmakers and auditors focused on limitations in DJS’s data systems and on measuring whether community-based services reduce reoffending. OPEGA said the existing data could not support a strong published finding about outcomes and urged improved metrics and a modern case-management platform.",{"_33":101,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":102,"_41":103,"_43":104,"_45":105,"_47":106,"_49":107,"_51":108,"_53":109,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":110,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":111,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6387534,"DJS Secretary outlines Thrive Academy, girls continuum and data upgrades in response to OPEGA briefing",348,521000,869000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786&start=521&end=869","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116380-b2965ef25f11c252b6f5c02e005c2786/thumbnail_521000.jpg","/articles/6387534/Maryland/DJS-Secretary-outlines-Thrive-Academy-girls-continuum-and-data-upgrades-in-response-to-OPEGA-briefing","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387534-bf55daf02becc0619803ede9f4b27591/orig.mp4?Expires=1771170579&Signature=OCOiBFWrlx6WiuYir-qyB8RdoVLIAkqP0Ek1-oLwBsVvZedxkgDbaAodyN0lspJD5Cxb63IqJroYLT1db5IfGMQKdobrELT1lay77aqQ1GGWWIKDoQrAj5LVXNFW~3aIaZiR1Wn43NjonHMOmIH~HzjklHRWxJQfXEd-XoL~X6l7OxnapH26BvN4MxwXVl3X9nTDkB4fwBFuRrMEFjWLfmcTCN8RmHERh9HOZoTDjyy09wJCYq4v68PPp9wKxJIs6x5oc71atvKKWosMYJzxe0pW0A-8Q6bB6sZPf~OQtpeeezU0wY~nwxbacNNvDqlNJ8v0nasjeX-JZA6xvgvOIQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Vinny Schiraldi, secretary of the Department of Juvenile Services, responded to OPEGA's Jan. 15 briefing with a list of immediate and planned steps to expand community services, improve oversight and modernize data collection. DJS leaders said they have moved quickly since the secretary's 2023 arrival but acknowledged much work remains.

Schiraldi described a three-part focus: an intensive anti-gun-violence effort called the Thrive Academy, a planned continuum of services for girls, and expanded workforce-development and apprenticeship partnerships. He told the committee, “this is a oil tanker, not a riverine craft,” underscoring the agency's scale and the time needed to change its service mix.

Programs and funding

Schiraldi said an ARPA allocation and later General Assembly funding helped launch the Thrive Academy to target youth at high risk of gun involvement. He said the department obtained an $850,000 federal grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for service scanning, gap analysis and technical assistance.

The secretary described other actions:
- A new assistant secretary for community resources was appointed and tasked with mapping service gaps, improving provider rate-setting and expanding access to evidence-based services statewide.
- A girls’ continuum of care and a request for proposals for gender-responsive services were being prepared after consultations with national experts, judges and practitioners.
- Workforce programs and apprenticeships were expanded in partnership with the Maryland Department of Labor, local workforce boards and other state agencies; DJS reported summer and year-round subsidized work slots and partnerships to build training pipelines.

Data systems and evaluation

On data limitations identified by OPEGA, Schiraldi said DJS is exploring replacement of CJAMS and upgrades to ASSIST. He told the committee the CJAMS effort “was not meeting our needs” and that the department expects to issue a request for proposals for a modern case-management system; shorter-term fixes to quantify referrals and other inputs were underway.

Schiraldi said DJS has contracted with academic partners. Dr. Aaron Betzinger of the University of Maryland’s Institute for Innovation and Implementation described existing monitoring and dashboarding for evidence-based programs (multisystemic therapy and functional family therapy) and said DJS plans expanded evaluation work to track post-discharge arrests, disaggregate outcomes by race and supervision status, and assess program effectiveness for subgroups.

Secretary's framing and next steps

Schiraldi described the inherited service shortfalls and the department's near-term steps as part of a longer implementation plan: expand providers via expressions of interest, formalize new provider rate-setting, improve short-term quantification of noncontract referrals and pursue a new, modern case-management system within 18–24 months. He asked committee members to visit programs and agreed to provide follow-up data and documents requested by the committee.","Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vinny Schiraldi told the Judicial Proceedings Committee he has launched programs to target gun violence, girls' services and workforce pathways, secured federal and state funds, and is pursuing both short-term fixes and a longer-term replacement for the department's case-management system.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

OPEGA briefing finds gaps in Department of Juvenile Services' community services, data and oversight

Committee presses DJS on staff safety, monitoring and facility operations amid reports of assaults

Audit finds data gaps; committee presses DJS on recidivism, intake tool and case management

DJS Secretary outlines Thrive Academy, girls continuum and data upgrades in response to OPEGA briefing