Media Contact:
April Putzulu, Communications Director
P 1-800-554-4357 Ext. 3331
C (727) 215-7068
E aputzulu@eckerd.org
DALLAS, TX (August 10, 2012) – Please join us as we welcome legislators, local leadership and the community to learn more about Eckerd Dallas where we provide juvenile justice diversion and aftercare services for at-risk youth and their families. The Eckerd Dallas Open House event will be held on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Eckerd Dallas Office, 400 South Zang Boulevard, Suite 220, Dallas, Texas 75208. A brief program will begin at 10:45 a.m. and will feature remarks from Eckerd Program Director Teresa Stroud and personal testimonies from families who have been helped by Eckerd services.
Since 2008, Eckerd has been providing second chances to at-risk youth and their families in Texas. For over five years, Eckerd’s juvenile justice diversion services have been providing alternatives to secure detention to boys and girls ages 10 to 17 that reside in Dallas County, as sponsored by Eckerd, the Dallas County Juvenile Board, and the Dallas County Juvenile Department. This service has proven to be a cost-effective and outcome-driven alternative to secure detention for youth, enabling them to remain in their homes and address their mental, emotional and behavioral needs while awaiting disposition. Eckerd’s evidence-based approach combines intensive case management and monitoring, life skills training, parent training, and individualized home contact. Youth are primarily referred to this service through the courts. Cost of these services is over 75% less than the average cost of detention with less than a 7% recidivism rate 90 days post-release, and the average length of services is 60 days. This service has been endorsed as an alternative to detention by the Texas Public Policy Foundation as a cost-effective approach to reduce crime and preserve families.
Given Eckerd’s success, in 2011 the Texas Youth Commission contracted with Eckerd to begin providing aftercare services to boys and girls ages 10 to 17 who are adjudicated delinquent and are returning home to Dallas, Collin, and Tarrant counties following stays in juvenile justice residential facilities. Eckerd’s juvenile justice aftercare (family reunification) service provides comprehensive home-based interventions to families that have youth transitioning home after completing treatment in juvenile justice residential facilities. The goal of these intensified services is to successfully reunify youth with their families and ease their successful transition back to their homes, schools and communities. The service features intensive case management and support through a network of community resources, and utilizes the Eckerd Family Engagement Model to include evidence-based practices of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Nurturing Parenting Programs®. Transition planning prior to discharge helps engage the youth and family early in the process and ensures continuity of treatment through the youth’s reintegration into their home community.
The public is invited to attend and complimentary refreshments will be served. For more information about the Eckerd Dallas Open House event please call (214) 941-4435.
