Maryland and Baltimore County lawmakers said they are nearing a cash-saving agreement that will keep juvenile delinquents at home in their own schools ? and serve as a model for future pacts with other jurisdictions.
The five-year agreement would provide community-based therapy for youth, and the two governments would divide the savings generated from avoiding placements in group homes or detention centers, officials said. Youth advocates said the strategy, called multi-systemic therapy intervention, is long overdue in Maryland.
“It involves not only the young person but the entire family and people like teachers, neighbors and other positive adults,” said Angela Johnese, staff director of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition. “We feel it?s the right [direction] for the state to move in.”
Up-front costs would be funded through a $400,000 private grant from the Crane Foundation, the first major charitable foundation grant to Baltimore County in living memory, said county criminal justice coordinator Meg Ferguson.
Savings in subsequent years could be significant, officials said. Housing a child in a group home or secure facility for one year costs the state as much as $80,000, Johnese said, compared with $9,000 for a four-month MST program.
State and county officials said they are planning a ceremonial signing, but the process ran into a few apparent bumps when Secretary of Budget and Management Eloise Foster threatened to kill the agreement, citing the state?s $1.5 billion structural deficit.
In an e-mail to an aide for County Executive Jim Smith, Ferguson said the county ran out of grant funding for multi-systemic therapy in June and would have none if the project did not move forward as planned. She asked if the county could contact Gov. Martin O?Malley?s office to soothe Foster?s fears.
That appeared to work.
“Through the intervention of the governor?s office, I think all of her initial concerns and reservations have been addressed,” said Tammy Brown, a spokeswoman for the state?s Department of Juvenile Services. “We haven?t heard anything different.”
