The District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) announced today that it is upgrading services to youth in its care by requiring that all of the Department’s newly hired direct care staff – from line staff in its secure facilities to case workers and supervisors - have college credits.
DYRS’ Establishment Act requires that DYRS employ “a cadre of juvenile justice professionals who are highly skilled and experienced with the principles, goals, and the latest advancements of juvenile rehabilitation and treatment provision.” According to the Department’s Director, Vincent Schiraldi, this new requirement will be another step in that direction.
“Upgrading services to our youth by upgrading the education of youth workers is overdue,” states DYRS Director Vincent N. Schiraldi. “If DYRS is to achieve Mayor Fenty’s goal of being the best juvenile justice agency in the country, it needs to have the best educated and best qualified staff. This educational requirement continues our mission to fully reform this agency and coincides perfectly with the agency’s transition from the Oak Hill Youth Center into a new, state of the art facility, which will allow our facility staff to leave Oak Hill as ‘Youth Correctional Officers’ and start in our new facility as ‘Youth Development Representatives.’”
“I have tasked my Directors with accepting nothing but the best services from the best qualified staff for the District’s young people,” states Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “I fully support DYRS’ efforts to improve public safety and services to our youth by improving the quality of its staff.”
Schiraldi looked to reforms in several model juvenile justice agencies, as well as to the upgrading of requirements for teachers in DC Public Schools, in deciding to require that all newly hired direct care staff have college credits in addition to experience. As examples, the juvenile justice systems for the State of Missouri and Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan both require that their direct care staff have college degrees and the Directors of both systems indicate that college educated staff have assisted in promoting substantial reforms in both jurisdictions. Missouri’s juvenile justice agency won this year’s prestigious Innovations in Government award from Harvard University for its successful rehabilitative approach to working with young people in its facilities, a model which DYRS is seeking to emulate. “We are inspired by the reforms in Detroit, Missouri and at DCPS and are pleased to take a page out of their reform playbook,” states Schiraldi.