A Message from our Care & Closure Project Team
Care & Closure: a plan for youth healing, accountability, and community safety. This is King County’s effort to expand community-based alternatives to secure youth detention and close the youth detention center. We share project updates and upcoming opportunities to be involved in the effort each month.
Care & Closure Recommendations
Earlier today, Executive Constantine transmitted a report on the Care & Closure recommendations from the Advisory Committee and the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) to the King County Council.
The report highlights the process of developing the recommendations, the findings from the community engagement, and the next actions of the project.
The Advisory Committee’s recommendations identify the essential components of an alternative system needed to support youth and their healing, accountability, and community safety and close the youth detention center.
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- Create, operate, and maintain a 24/7 respite and receiving center where law enforcement will take all youth under 18 years old upon arrest unless they can be released upon entering the center.
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Provide very short-term respite housing at the respite and receiving center for youth who cannot go home due to safety concerns.
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Provide enhanced immediate supports when youth return home to their families or are placed in kinship care with extended family members.
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Create, contract, and provide oversight to a network of diverse community care homes where youth would stay while their court case proceeds if they are unable to go home because of safety concerns.
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Strengthen community infrastructure and capacity to ensure all youth have access to and can benefit from culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and youth- and family-centered supports that address their identified needs, regardless of whether they are at home, with a relative, or at a community care home.
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Ensure the next steps for these recommendations are informed by and centered on input, expertise, and ideas of the community members most directly impacted by the youth legal system.
The Advisory Committee reached broad consensus across a majority of the six recommendations showing a commitment to create alternatives that support all youth under 18 years old and uphold community safety. Further deliberation is needed on how the recommended respite and receiving center with short-term housing can maintain the safety of youth and safety for the community.
The full report with recommendations and next actions is available on the project website here, and a two-page summary of the report is available here.
What Comes Next
In the report, Executive Constantine announced six next actions toward implementing the Advisory Committee’s recommendations to expand community-based alternatives for youth involved in the legal system and ultimately end youth detention at the Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center (CCFJC). The six actions create the next phase of strategy planning and implementation.
Thank You: Our 2023 Year in Review
We are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to engage and involve communities most impacted by the youth legal system in identifying needed resources to support youth healing, accountability, and community safety. In 2023, we connected with and learned from over 1,800 community members, including impacted youth, families, and harmed community members. Check out the graphic below to see highlights from our community engagement.
Together, we have achieved the following over the past year:
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Help Others Get Connected
Please share this monthly newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in learning about this effort! To stay up to date:
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