Juvenile Community Case Management (CCMA)

Juveniles having difficulty maintaining acceptable behavior within their community may be ordered to be placed out of the home for a short time until specific issues can be addressed that cannot be adequately addressed while the youth is in the community.  District Court judges commit youth to the custody of the Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA) Commissioner for a determinate period as prescribed in the Kansas sentencing matrix.  District Court judges may only depart from the matrix to order a more restrictive disposition with limits being imposed by statute.  Departure from presumptive sentences requires a hearing and finding of fact by the committing court.

The JJA Commissioner has authority for deciding placement specifics and is required to notify the court in writing once the placement is made. While the court may make placement recommendations, the statutes provide no authority for directing placement in a specific facility (K.S.A. 38-1664).  Any offender placed out of the home is subject to "permanency planning" requirements and court reviews every 12 months after placement.  Regarding JJA placements, the agency is responsible for developing progress reports for presentation at the permanency review hearings.  The statute sets forth a framework for the progress report in K.S.A. 38-1664.  Each youth committed by a judge to the custody of the Commissioner of the JJA is supervised by a Community Case Management Agency (CCMA) caseworker, regardless of whether that youth is placed in community-based programming or in a juvenile correctional facility. 

The Case Managers maintain contact with the youths they supervise, as well as the facility/program staff, the youths' families, and others who can help with release planning and successful reintegration of the youths back into their communities. In addition to supervising youths while in placement, the caseworkers also supervise the youths while they are in aftercare, or conditional release.

Once a placement is secured from a contracted JJA provider, the Case Manager develops a Case Plan that identifies the problem areas, goals, and methods in which those problem areas will be addressed. As with JISP, Case Management is a very labor-intensive position. It would not be unusual for a Case Manager to spend several hours of a work day managing a crisis on just one case. Case Managers make every effort to ensure the juvenile is provided with all available resources to prepare the juvenile to return home with the tools necessary to deal with the issues that brought him or her to the attention of the legal system.