Dec. 17—TRAVERSE CITY — As the state gears up to reform its juvenile justice system, northern Michigan courts say that the issue of finding placements still persists.

A bundle of 19 bills signed into law Tuesday by Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilcrist II in Detroit will take effect in 2024. They’re aimed at what juvenile justice advocates have criticized as a faulty system beset by issues of over-incarceration, lack of funding and policy backbone.

Specifically, the new laws will divert more funding to community-based services such as family counseling and mental health services — all of which are seen by experts as better alternatives than jail time for the youth’s well-being.

An investigation by the Record-Eagle and Interlochen Public Radio found the lack of in-patient mental health care for juvenile offenders was especially common in northern Michigan. Juveniles can sometimes be lodged in emergency rooms for weeks awaiting placement in a dedicated facility.

The problem stems from lack of staffing, funding and beds across the region. If juveniles are admitted, the facilities they are placed in can often be located hours away from their families.

Senate Bill 418 says the state’s Child Care Fund Unit will issue 75 percent reimbursements to counties for diverting juveniles to community programs rather than putting them in jail — a 25-percent increase from the original 50 percent.

According to Grand Traverse County Probate and Family Court Judge Jennifer Whitten, that bill will have the biggest impact here.

“That money will be really great for the county,” she said.

With the additional funding the bill provides, Whitten said they may be able to hire an additional person to work on diversion programs in the county. Diversion programs offer additional resources for judges before having to think about placement as an option, she said.

Leelanau County Family Court Clerk Cameron Clark and Judge Marian Kromkowski agree.

Kromkowski added that Clark has been on “the ground floor,” of many of the committees that began re-evaluating some of these issues within the juvenile justice system at the state level.

“Cameron and many others really pushed this along to the finish line,” she said. “Kudos to him — and that Leelanau County was able to cooperate in such a way.”

“This legislation is really groundbreaking,” Clark said. “It’s really going to help move the needle for a lot of kids who need interventions earlier on in their lives to get them in and out of the system relatively quickly without any scar tissue.”

In Grand Traverse County, Family Court Administrator Kristyn Brendel said they currently offer diversion programs through community resources, as well as Reining Liberty, Peace Ranch and Butterfly Foundation.

Based on data provided by her office, the Family Court in Grand Traverse currently has 54 kids on probation and six in the diversion program, which just started in October.

“The point of this was to emphasize to courts to try and use community based programs instead of out-of-home placements,” Clark said. “That 75 percent reimbursement isn’t supposed to be a windfall for the counties, the intent for the legislation really is to reinvest that higher reimbursement rate for additional programming in order to strengthen our home-based programs.”

In Leelanau, he said their No. 1 tool is personal and individual relationships between court staff and children. Their wages and benefits are paid for through that fund.

With this increase in funding, they’ll be able to afford more therapy programs through Community Mental Health and Northern Lakes, which can be expensive.

“These aren’t problems, these are kids growing up and facing challenges,” Kromkowski reiterated.

But, in some cases, Whitten said some children have exhausted all diversion programs and have no option other than placement.

This past year, she hasn’t had to send any juveniles to out-of-state detention centers or treatment facilities, she said, but other counties in the state aren’t so lucky.

There’s still a backlog of finding beds for children who need them, she added. Nothing in this new legislation specifically addressed that.

“This achievement is a direct outcome of a thorough, data-driven review of Michigan’s juvenile justice system and highlights the dedication and leadership of a diverse coalition of stakeholders,” Nina Salomon, deputy division director of the Corrections and Reentry Division at The Council of State Governments Justice Center, said in a press release. “We are excited about the impact of this ambitious reform on Michigan’s youth and on public safety.”

In 2021, The Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice was charged with examining a system that was not working — one plagued with shortages of all kinds, confusion on a county-by-county basis, lack of data and even arbitrary cruelty where kids ended up confined for long periods.

The group brought together advocates, former justice-involved youth, and law enforcement. It released a slew of recommendations last year to inform the bills that were just signed.

They found that, in 2019, nearly half of all the cases initiated in juvenile court in Michigan were for minor issues, such as missing school or property crimes. Many of these cases ended in incarceration.

As for solving the shortages in residential mental health and detention facilities, the task force recommended forming a statewide residential advisory committee.

That group became a reality in October 2022 and was tasked to review licensing, staff training, length-of-stay, and case management standards.

These new laws will officially take effect starting in 2024.