Benefits of Creating Connectivity for Juveniles

Juvenile detention systems disproportionately serve young people of color, young people from families in crisis, and young people with striking health disparities. Successful return to community life – including school or job training – may be enhanced by ensuring that youth brought to detention get the health care services they need in the community.

Building health care connectivity for juveniles brought to detention centers tackles some of these issues by:

• Addressing serious physical and mental health problems
  • More than 70 percent of juveniles brought to detention centers have a mental health disorder, and approximately 20 percent have a serious mental illness.
  • Drug screening upon admittance reveals positive results in approximately 60 percent of youth.
  • In one study, an astonishing 98 percent of girls reported having been raped or sexually abused before entering detention.
• Increasing cultural competency of care
  • As part of their mission, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) maintain strong connections to their communities and they have an interest in providing care that is culturally competent.
• Reducing recidivism
  • Bernalillo County, New Mexico, has reduced rates of recidivism a year after release from 88 percent to 20 percent among some 300 juveniles by providing them with needed mental health services, along with case management.