CHD Adolescent Reentry Services help youths involved with the state Dept. of Youth Services (DYS) transition back into their home communities and school systems.
CHD manages two sites, one in Holyoke and one in Springfield, that coordinate community reentry services for more than 100 juvenile offenders. The program is funded by DYS and the two sites also serve as regional offices for DYS caseworkers, who work collaboratively with CHD staff to provide services. Among the program's 13 staff workers, CHD provides a community clinical coordinator, family intervention speciailist, resource development specialist, site support specialists, and substance abuse case managers.
CHD also provides support services for smaller, DYS satellite offices in Northampton and Athol and at the Young Women's Center in Springfield and the Chicopee Boys and Girls Club in Chicopee.
The CHD-DYS collaboration represents a new model and new philosophy in juvenile justice services. Unlike past models that treated adolescent reentry services much like adult parole, with juveniles reporting to community resource centers, in the new model case managers meet with youths out in the community and work to find and provide appropriate services for them and their families.