Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services will do whatever it takes to provide prevention, treatment and accountability services for youth and their families. Services provided include Community Supervision, Court Services, At-Risk Youth Supervision, Diversion, Detention, CASA and Truancy assistance.

Programs/Services offered through Juvenile Services include:

* At Risk Youth: a legislated program designed to assist and enable parents to gain  control of their children through court intervention.

* CHINS: The acronym for Child In Need of Services is similar to the At-Risk  Program except that when a CHINS is filed for a child there is a need to remove  the child from the home while the court intervention and family assistance takes  place.

* Court Services: all juvenile cases filed by the Prosecutor's office are processed at  Juvenile Services and cases are heard in the courtroom located at the facility.

* Dependency: Dependency court proceedings address the needs of children  regarding abuse and/or neglect, abandonment, no parent/guardian or that are  developmentally disabled. Juvenile Services court clerk processes submitted  petitions regarding these allegations.

* Detention: Juveniles are court ordered to our secured detention facility. While in  detention they attend school, meet with probation counselors and may attend  drug/alcohol information classes.

* Diversion: Diversion is a legal process whereby first time offenders alleged to  have committed certain misdemeanors are offered an alternative to the formal  court process.

* Drug Court: Drug Courts are revolutionizing the criminal justice system. The strategy departs from traditional criminal practice by placing nonviolent drug abusing offenders into intensive court-supervised drug treatment instead of jail.

* CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocates, appointed to  protect the best interest of a child or children involved in a Dependency Court proceeding.

* Special Offender Supervision: The Special Sex Offender Disposition Act  (SSODA) and Option B are programs available for special offenders who are  evaluated and deemed a low risk to the community and amenable to  treatment/counseling.

* Probation: Supervision of juvenile offenders ordered by the court.

* Prevention: Many youth and/or their parents refer themselves to our office for assistance in dealing with difficult situations or relationships. Services for this group of clients is provided partially to avoid an escalation that could lead to later delinquency or family breakdown.

* Truancy: Juveniles who do not attend school are referred to the court for  attendance action. Juveniles can appear before a Truancy Board or the court and  are ordered to school. If they fail to attend they can be ordered to serve time in  detention where they will attend the school program.

* Volunteers: Juvenile Services encourages and uses volunteers in many duties.  Volunteer hours number in the thousands each year and approximately 100  volunteers actively participate in working with youth.

Contact Juvenile Services with questions or comments about the information on this page