Off The Bench by Steve Rideout

Let me start with my thanks to the Spy for the opportunity to share my questions and thoughts on program ideas that would support the Magistrates, Masters, and Judges of the Circuit Courts on the Eastern Shore in their efforts to improve outcomes for children and families. Another way to consider this would be for us to look for ways that our counties and cities might take advantage of effective programs for children and families that have proved successful and are already in place.

I am calling this effort “Off The Bench” as a reminder that what courts can accomplish is often times limited by the resources available in their jurisdiction; the ability of judicial officers “Off The Bench” to encourage effective programs; and the willingness of people in a community to be advocates for the children involved in the Juvenile Justice System and Family Law matters that the Circuit Court Magistrates, Masters, and Judges hear.

I found during my time on the bench that working on collaborations with the agencies and local nonprofits within my community to address issues involving youth was an important factor in the reduction of our court’s delinquency caseload, the reduction in the number of children that were detained and/or ultimately sent to state custody, the increase in effective programming, and the increase in our shelter care population where services were provided to children in a group unlocked facility. 

In my work around the country during my time on the bench and later as a consultant, I know that rural areas, while having fewer cases, have many fewer resources to address the same multiple needs that children have in both low and high population areas.

An example, I think, that applies here involves what appear to be few, if any, shelter care facilities for youth on the Eastern Shore. These are unlocked short term residential facilities that are staffed by professionals that provide needed services to youth that are not a danger to the community, who need services not otherwise being provided to them or are being inadequately provided,  and are not able to remain at home for any number of reasons. Having been in Dorchester County for about 11 years, I think that I would have heard of one here but have not.

One good reason for not having these facilities is that rural counties are not able to afford them on their own. Urban communities are not either. For instance, in Northern Virginia, we had both a Regional Detention Facility and a Regional Shelter Care Facility. Two counties and two cities, all of which had significant resources, shared the cost of those facilities based on a three-year average usage of each facility. 

So my questions for the Eastern Shore of Maryland are:

What if any shelter care facilities are located here? 

Are they being run by a county alone? 

What regional shelter care facilities are there and where are they located? 

Would having one or more regional facilities help the courts and communities provide more effective resources sooner to improve outcomes for children and their families and reduce delinquency caseloads? 

Would there be a cost savings through services being provided sooner in a less restrictive placement?

It appears to me that Masters, Magistrates, or Judges of the Circuit Courts dealing with juvenile cases here on the Eastern Shore are limited in what supervision is available for youth that come before the court and are alleged to be delinquent or who need services. 

I found early in my time on the bench that detaining most of the youth charged with delinquent offenses was not the right answer. For those youth who came to Alexandria from Maryland and D.C. to commit what would be felonies, I made an exception. 

I came to understand that youth from our community could learn more about bad behavior from the more hardened delinquents in the detention home. Those who were detained and later returned to school had a higher profile with their peers because they had been detained. Their education suffered even though there was a school within our detention home. 

Our court developed a program that released a youth to his/her parents or legal custodian on conditions of release that allowed the parent/custodian to return the child to court for reconsideration of detention if the release rules were violated. This helped some of the parents to reclaim their home from their child who had gotten out of control. While the counties and cities in Northern Virginia were close to one another, I am not sure how close the detention facility/facilities for youth on the Eastern Shore are to where their family lives. Family connection and engagement is an important part of changing a youth’s behavior.

I would welcome the opportunity to start one or more conversations to learn more about what is happening here on this or other topics in your county or city. How can your ideas or new resources be advocated for by communities to help our courts by our being more proactive and prevention oriented to lessen their need to be reactive to the arrival with cases involving youth that are of growing severity? Those cases then require more time and resources to help to turn lives around.

Thanks for reading. Please be in touch. There is more that we can do to help our youth and our communities by sharing ideas.

Judge Rideout is the former Chief Judge of the Alexandria, VA Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (1989-2004). From 2004 until the present he has consulted in different states to support their efforts to improve their child welfare systems. From 2016 to early 2021, he was the Ward 1 Commissioner on the Cambridge City Council. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for improving the lives of children in his and other communities. He can be contacted at [email protected].