248 - Washington State Juvenile Court Assessment Tool (JCAT)

The Washington State Juvenile Courts have been using a validated risk assessment tool since the early 2000s. The Washington State Juvenile Court Assessment was created through a partnership between WAJCA, Orbis Partners and WSIPP. This tool assesses the risk and needs of youth and guides the development of the case management plan used by Juvenile Probation Counselors. This tool determines eligibility for the State's menu of evidence-based programs. The current tool needs several enhancements to improve our ability to work effectively with youth. The needs assessment must be evolved to provide for 'dynamic' needs, the tool must be integrated with our case management systems and we must be able to make modifications that tract outcomes for youth and assess the efficacy of our outcomes.

WAJCA will own the underlying methodology for assessing the risk and needs of juvenile justice involved youth. An in-house assessment instrument through AOC versus an off the shelf solution is preferred to allow for flexibility and modifications necessary for the integration and development of a dynamic needs assessment. As an example, the eligibility and individual criteria for evidence based programming must be periodically evaluated to incorporate current research on adolescent development.