Tri-City community leaders are analyzing juvenile justice data, practices and policies as part of a national reform effort aimed at making the system more effective and responsive.
The group has targeted three areas for a closer look: How truancy is dealt with, care for youth with mental health issues and whether minorities are disproportionately represented in the system.
The Models for Change initiative is a project of the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
"I think the impact (of the work) can hardly be overstated -- the impact on the kids themselves and therefore on the whole community," said Benton-Franklin Superior Court Judge Dennis Yule.
Four other counties in the state are doing similar work through the initiative. Statewide efforts are being led by the Center for Children & Youth Justice in Seattle.
The MacArthur Foundation plans to give more than $10 million for the work in Washington.
The idea is that the reforms developed will be a model for change across the country. Communities in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Illinois also are part of the initiative.
Efforts began in the Tri-Cities late last year. Community members -- from juvenile justice and law enforcement officials to social service workers and educators -- formed teams to gather data and analyze the three target areas.
For example, the truancy work has involved examining the truancy petition process, looking at the number of filings and how they break down by categories including age and gender, talking with schools and considering student feedback.
The mental health work group has looked at barriers that youths and their families encounter in accessing services.
The group exploring disproportionate minority contact is trying to determine whether that's indeed an issue here by reviewing court data that stretches back several years.
"Part of what we're looking for is how we can better and earlier intervene in those areas," Yule said. That's because research shows programs or services that reach kids before they fall too deeply into the system are most effective.
The groups will continue their work into next year and come up with recommended changes that'll be forwarded to a juvenile justice advisory board of community leaders. Yule is co-chairman of the board.
The final years of the five-year project will be spent implementing the reforms and evaluating how they're working.
Youths still will be held accountable for their actions, said Jacque van Wormer, Models for Change coordinator for Benton-Franklin Juvenile Court. The changes are meant to ensure the system is doing its best to serve them, she said.
Part of the power of the initiative is that people from agencies and professions throughout the community are joining to work toward the same goal, officials said.
"What we do is one piece of the effort," said Sharon Paradis, Benton-Franklin Juvenile Court administrator. "This really is our opportunity to work with all these other entities to bring the community in around these kids and make a difference."
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