Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
The Illinois Eleventh Judicial Circuit proposes to expand and enhance its Veterans Treatment Court (VTC). The VTC is a brand new court that covers all five counties of the circuit: Ford, Livingston, Logan, McLean and Woodford. It is the first circuit-wide problem-solving court in Illinios, and took its first and only participant in January of 2018. The Court is seated in McLean County, where staffings and court hearings will occur. This project seeks to expand the court capacity to 40 participants and enhance services by addressing the following areas of need: travel/transportation, data management and sharing, mentoring, becoming trauma-informed and responsive, providing cognitive behavioral treatment to address criminality, providing state approved treatment for veterans convicted of domestic battery, and independent evaluation. As the first circuit-wide problem-solving court in the circuit and the state, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit faces many challenges, and will be looked to as an example of how this type of collaboration may work. The Court will build its infrastructure by contracting for video conferencing and database hosting services that can be accessed by all county team members for essential data sharing. The Court will hire a VTC Coordinator to manage the five-county program, including grant management and reporting. The Court will also hire a Veteran Mentor Coordinator to work with the VTC Coordinator to develop a robust mentoring program and to recruit, train and manage veteran mentors. The Eleventh Judicial Circuit VTC will enhance its programs through the addition of several evidence based practices. First the Court will integrate the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2 into their assessment protocol, and have team members from all five counties and their support staff trained in How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses. The Court will contract with Center for Youth and Family Solutions to provide a case manager to facilitate case planning and access to recovery support services--practical assistance with areas of life functioning, ancillary services, and more individualized services. The Court will provide access to state-certified Partner Abuse Intervention Program treatment for veterans charged with domestic battery. Finally, the Court will train 10 staff in Moral Reconation Therapy and institute an MRT program for participants scoring high in the 'big 4' criminogenic needs on their Ohio Risk Assessment System. The Eleventh Judicial Circuit VTC will improve its program design and implementation and demonstrate program impact through independent evaluation. The Court will contract with Dr. Philip Mulvey from Illinois State University, an expert in court evaluation, to provide ongoing data support and performance monitoring, as well as baseline and outcome evaluations, and annual performance reports. Lastly, the Court will expand its capacity from 1 participant to 40 participants. The anticipated number of participants served for the five year grant is 150.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
