Melody Pappan grew up on a farm. She says she wasn’t exposed to the temptations or challenges young people face today.
“Our mistakes weren’t as dangerous as theirs,” she says. “Kids today are street-wise at an earlier age.”
Pappan knows about such things. She was a Cowley County Deputy Sheriff from 1994 until she joined Cowley County Youth Services in 2000, and has been director since 2003. Pappan is also a mother herself.? Her kids are 9 and 11.
The oldest is the same age as the youngest of the 87 juveniles who comprise Youth Services’ case load. They are juvenile offenders. Their offenses range from underage drinking to sex offenses, burglaries, aggravated assault and aggravated burglaries.
“We supervise the whole spectrum,” Pappan said. “We have youth in their homes. We have placements in juvenile corrections facilities. We have placements in homes across the state.”
It’s harder to be a kid today than when Pappan was?a kid herself, she said.
“Kids that did drugs were isolated from everybody else. Everybody knew who they were and stayed away from them. Today, it’s accepted. Kids, and even some parents, accept drugs as okay.”
Youth Services’ caseload has been gradually increasing over the last seven years. And it isn’t just Pappan’s department that works with juveniles. District Court Services’ also supervise juveniles. Those who fail probation move to the higher supervision level Youth Services’ provides.
The juvenile intake program is the third?core program every judicial district in the state is required to operate at the local level. In 2007, 369 intake assessments were completed in Cowley County. The majority of the kids involved were picked up by police. One kid might have been assessed more than once or as many as six times.
“They’re not maturing but they are exposed to drugs, sex and other deviants at a much earlier age,” Pappan said.
The intervention program offers first-time offenders an alternative to court. It is designed for juveniles ages 10 to 17 who are arrested for the first time for a misdemeanor offense. The program is two to six months long and involves community service hours. a curfew, referral programs, written apologies and restitution.
Of the 369 assessed, 102 were referred to the immediate intervention program for first time offenders. Of the 102, 74 successfully completed the program.
Youth Services’ also dealt with 500 referrals from area schools to the truancy program during the 2006-07 school year. The referrals may have been prompted because of absentee or tardy issues. Case workers met with students and parents to try to resolve the issue and offer services to prevent truancy.
“Truancy is considered a stepping stone to juvenile offenses,” Pappan said.
The program provides two truancy offers to support the school districts in their role of enforcing school attendance. Of the 500 referrals in the last school year, there were only 25 repeat truants, according to Pappan.
Kansas truancy law defines inexcusable absences as three consecutive school days, five school days of any semester or seven days in any school year.
Youth Services is a county program but funded primarily by the state. County commissioners have supported the program financially when enough state funds weren’t available to finance services. Pappan is quick to applaud their continued interest. She is also a fan of Russ Jennings, who took over as state commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Authority about a year ago.
A statewide assessment program for probation and custody for youth was implemented in 2007. Pappan’s $552,097 annual budget hasn’t increased much in the last few years while the cost of operation has increased. Jennings has asked the Legislature for additional funds.
Pappan and the commission have asked for $144,132 from the new money which will allow the local program to add a juvenile intake worker, a?supervision officer and upgrade one supervision officer to increase quality assurance and make sure programs are meeting state guidelines and requirements.
The new assessment program is described by Pappan as “a road map to where the problem lies.” Case plans are directly related to the assessment but without the additional funding there isn’t enough staff to fully implement the program.
Perhaps the biggest change – and the one most promising – is that case workers will be meeting with clients face-to-face on a monthly basis, regardless of where they are placed in the state.
“You can just imagine how much extra time that will take,” Pappan said. “We have always seen the local clients face-to-face but the ones in placement we rely on phone contact and contact by mail.”
If Pappan could talk face-to-face with every parent in the county she would tell them to have more structure and supervised control of their kids; to teach them the rules and then correct them when the rules are broken.
“Don’t use a television as a baby sitter. A lot of kids have troubles with games, too,” she said. “They are addicted to some. That’s all they want to do. They stay up late playing games, then they don’t get up for school because they are tired. They’re not motivated to do anything except plays games. And a lot of the games are violent.”
Pappan is just watching and waiting for the Legislature to adopt the Juvenile Justice requests. Committees from both the?Senate and the House have supported the recommendations.
The additional funds are needed and should reflect positive changes in what Youth Services can accomplish with the younger population of the county.
“Kids are losing their innocence much younger today,” Pappan said. “They’re forced to grow up in many ways when they’re not really prepared to.”
