Interagency collaboration within juvenile detention to appropriately serve youth with developmental disabilities

Within juvenile detention/corrections facilities, youth with disabilities often have complex needs that require services from multiple agencies. Effective collaboration between agencies can help ensure appropriate, individualized services for these youth. Achieving effective interagency collaboration can be challenging and barriers often exist between agencies. Multiagency reforms for serving youth with developmental disabilities (DD) were required in juvenile detention facilities by a Settlement Agreement in I.T. v. Los Angeles County. This study reports on interview data from 31 representatives of four agencies – Probation, Mental Health, the School, and Health Services – located within the detention facilities who participated in the multiagency reforms. Almost 68% of interviewed staff described their collaboration positively enabling them to arrive at a more comprehensive view of the youth. However, they shared concerns regarding sharing information between agencies, the definition of DD used to identify the youth, and the lack of feedback once the youth were released. Recommendations for effective multiagency collaboration include strong leadership across agencies, ongoing training and coaching for stakeholders, and feedback on collaborative efforts used for a youth's discharge planning.