Arkansas Commission on Children, Youth, and Families

Advisory Council

The Advisory Council is a multidisciplinary team that works with juvenile justice, child welfare, and the Court Improvement Program to develop and implement collaborative projects to achieve safety and well-being in the best interest of court-involved youth and families.

Click to view Advisory Council Members list.

• Juvenile Code Revision Work Group

Data Committee

The Data Committee ensures that stakeholders have the tools, training, and unified structure to enable them to enter the data necessary for monitoring quality control to help all stakeholders to make evidence-based decisions.

Community Resource Committee

The Community Resources Committee strives to guarantee that each judicial district has the resources and evidence-based community services needed to offer court-involved juveniles the services established by the validated assessment in their local areas, as well as to secure adequate funding for evidence-based services customized to meet the needs of each judicial district.

Juvenile Officer Staffing Committee

The Juvenile Officer Staffing Committee aims to ensure each judicial district has sufficiently educated, experienced, and fairly-compensated staff to follow established protocols, conduct validated assessments, and provide quality juvenile services to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for juveniles.

Video Committee

The Video Committee aims to ensure that modern multimedia tools are accessible and readily available to enhance court interactions.

• Video Conference/Hearings

• Court Orientation Videos

• Resource Library

Recognizing the connection between school practices and juvenile court involvement, this year the Commission launched the Student Success Committee in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education. This interdisciplinary group is creating a statewide resource toolkit for schools on truancy prevention, discipline alternatives, and coordinated responses, aimed at reducing reliance on law enforcement and courts for school-based behavior. The DOE has begun piloting some initiatives with us, at their expense, that we hope that after studying can be modified and used in other jurisdictions.