Office of Juvenile Affairs

PROJECT PURPOSE

Premium pay to Level E Group Homes

EVIDENCE

OJA will be monitoring beds taken off-line due to labor shortages for the 11 contracted group homes - 167 contracted beds. There are times when youth are unable to receive visitation. This will be assisted by other ARPA requests, but by increasing pay for workers will reduce shortages in labor which have an effect on treatment quality.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

This program has youth from all over the state. Group Homes are one of the most cost effective treatment programs for youth that do not need to be placed in a physically secured setting. If we are unable to keep all 167 beds on line, then youth will be receiving treatment in there homes rather than the structured group homes. in some cases the youth may have to remain in detention. Research show that longer stays in detention can have a detrimental effect on further treatment.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Project performance will be measured by analysis of data from OJA's Juvenile On-line Tracking System (JOLTS).

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma