Superior Court Judge David Cates addresses the Kosciusko County Council Thursday night, April 12.

WARSAW — Kosciusko County’s Superior Court Judge David Cates addressed the county council Thursday night, April 12, on behalf of a program he is passionate about and one that he says will help juveniles in trouble countywide.

“I’m here to talk about Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, JDAI and I’m really here for grant approval initially, but not now,” Cates said to chuckles from the audience and the council. “Next month, I’m going to come back so a lot of what I tell you next month will be ‘ditto.’”

According to Cates, the state had initially approved the grant for $55,000 effective July 1, but it was learned that the county would need provide supporting data in order for the money to be granted.

“The state wants this to be data-driven,” Cate said. “Evidence-based decision-making is a big catch phrase with the state right now. And, we’re talking about state dollars, so they altered our prepared grant which means I’m going to have to come back and talk to you and request approval next month after it’s re-advertised.”

When Cates returns to the council next month, he will not only be requesting approval for the grant but also requesting an amended salary ordinance to accommodate overtime by juvenile probation officers.

Meanwhile, data collection will be on the agenda for those county officials who work with juveniles.

“The state will be working with some of our local officers to develop data before July 1 so that we can hit the ground running,” Cates said.

Cates told the council that to make the program work when it’s initiated, county officials have already started thinking outside the box. “My people are already getting creative,” he said. “Our community corrections officers in collaboration with the Bowen Center, have gotten together and created what they call a family planning session and it’s not that kind of family planning,” he said to scattered chuckles.

“A lot of our juvenile delinquents come from dysfunctional homes,” he continued. “Parents and other people in those homes are important parts of that. So, what we’re going to be doing is working with our community corrections officers, working with the Bowen Center, working with these families and working with our juvenile probation officers to meet with them, do an assessment of them and at least offer services to these families so that improvements can be had. This is not coming out of any county coffer. This is something that is already contracted for and already taken care of. So, we’re expanding services, we are expanding options already. That’s our people that are doing that so I give them a lot of credit.”

JDAI is a program that is more than two decades old designed to provide promising alternatives to juveniles considered low-risk. The initiative moves those individuals from locked facilities into community-based alternative programs.