Evaluations

Individual child and adolescent evaluations are the foundation of ACS services.

We develop recommendations in conjunction with the child and family. What we learn when we evaluate clients becomes the basis for our recommendations to the Court.

• Emergency evaluations. The clinician is called into court to evaluate whether a child requires hospital-level care because of a risk of self-harm or a risk of harming others. For example, an evaluation of a 14-year-old girl, who told her probation officer that she had stopped taking her antidepressant and was feeling out of control and suicidal.
• Comprehensive psychosocial evaluations. The clinician interviews the child and family, gathers collateral information, and submits a confidential report to the Judge.

Specialized Testing

Staff routinely screen for learning difficulties. While completing an evaluation, clinicians often have specific questions about a child’s psychological processes, neuropsychological functioning, or learning capabilities. Sometimes the complex issues that affect psychological functioning are hard to understand on interview and may not be answered through a review of the child’s history or records.
In these cases, ACS can provide psychological testing to complete the diagnostic picture.

See Jeff’s story for an example of a client who benefited from specialized testing.

Education and Advocacy

The goal of the Education and Advocacy service is to strengthen the resiliency of children and families, helping to make sure they have the tools they need to manage everyday difficulties. ACS clinicians:

• Educate children and families about issues identified in the evaluation process—special learning needs, mental illness, substance abuse.
• Advocate for the clients and link them with community services–medical care, mental health treatment, in-home support for a family.
• Follow up with clients and providers to help ensure that clients are actually getting the recommended services.
  Education and Advocacy alleviates barriers to care. ACS clinicians leverage public and private resources to find services for vulnerable youth within their home communities. Individually tailored responses, which take into account the urgent and comprehensive needs of the child and family, are what lead to success.

Therapeutic Services

Individual and Family Therapy

Our affiliation with the Court and location near Juvenile Probation enables us to engage adolescents and families who would not otherwise receive services. ACS provides both short- and long-term counseling, which is frequently made a condition of probation. ACS also works with family members to facilitate changes within a child’s family

Group Education and Treatment

Attendance and participation in these psychoeducational groups are a condition of probation:

• Adolescent Issues Group
• Anger Management Group
• Life Skills Group for Young Women
• Substance Abuse Group
• Firesetter Treatment Group
• Motherhood Group

Group counseling is one of the most effective ways to address issues for teens. For example, being able to enroll a teen promptly in an anger management group or in individual therapy can make all the difference. We can address a problem while it’s still fresh and before the child gets in further trouble. The ACS adolescent groups, which focus on skills training, are co-led by an ACS clinician and a volunteer graduate student intern.

Community Consultations

ACS clinicians have strong ties with a wide network of community
providers and schools. Members of the community often turn to ACS for consultation on questions ranging from basic court procedures to specific mental health services. Often, these consultations head off a potentially dangerous issue or can assist a troubled family in finding the help they need.

The ACS publication Kids and the Law serves as a valuable resource for adolescents, families, and other professionals. This straightforward guide to the procedures of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court is available in English/Spanish and English/Khmer editions to serve English speakers as well as Hispanic and Cambodian communities.