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The Justice Journal

The Voice of Pinal County Juvenile Court Services

December 2019

During the week of November 11, 2019, Pinal County Juvenile Court Services and the HOPE School at the Youth Justice Center collaborated on various Kids at HOPE activities throughout the week. The youth in the facility were fully engaged. The pictures in this article demonstrate just a few pieces of the artwork that

the youth created in their minds around what they believe about the mindset that ALL KIDS ARE CAPA-BLE OF SUCCESS, NO EXCEPTIONS! The results of the work was MINDBLOWING!

Each youth presented their art to staff and judges of the

competition. They spoke intelligently and clearly be-

lieve that THEY HAVE HOPE and have committed to

not giving up and believing in themselves. BUT, we

(staff) know that we play a vital role in moving youth

from a point of hopelessness to being hopeful.

WE, have all become true TREASURE HUNTERS for our youth!

Denise Smith, Director

KIDS at HOPE Week Events End Up With Treasures!

TREASURE HUNTER’S PLEDGE

As an adult and a Treasure Hunter, I am committed to search for all

the talents, skills and intelligence that exist in all children and youth.

I believe that all children are capable of success... no exceptions!

KIDS AT HOPE PLEDGE

I am talented, smart and capable of

success. I have dreams for the future, and I will climb to reach those goals and dreams every day…

no exceptions!

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JUVENILE COURT WELCOMES DEPENDENCY UNIT HOME !

It is with great excitement that we announce the promotion of Stephanie Lewis-Smale to De-pendency Supervisor.

Stephanie has a vast amount of work history and a Master’s De-gree in Social Work (ASU) that makes her a great fit to bring the dependency unit to the next level.

Before Stephanie joined JCS, she worked for the Department of Child Services where she pro-

gressed to the role of unit supervisor.

Stephanie joined JCS in July of 2016 as a Dependency Mediator. During her time with dependency, she formed strong working relationships with stakeholders to include judges, lawyers, DCS and our behavioral health partners.

Most recently, Stephanie has been a counselor for our probation kids assigned to the special caseload out of Florence. While a counselor, she stayed involved with dependency as she facilitat-ed a work group to explore systemic gaps. Stephanie is commit-ted to challenging the status quo and improving the process for families going through dependency.

Submitted by John Fuery

It’s official! The Dependency Unit has returned to Juvenile Court Services. And that means all new staff. We have been lucky enough to find three great people who are excited to join our team and who bring a lot of excitement to the unit.

First, we have Martha Huerta-Salazar. Martha has been working with us as an ad-ministrative assistant and comes to us from National Vitamin Company, where she worked for over five years as a Quality Assurance Specialist. Martha obtained her associates degree from Central Arizona College and is currently enrolled at Arizona State University working on a degree in Organizational Leadership.

Next, we have Felicia Romero who recently started as the new Community Coordi-nator. Felicia is a Sun Devil, having obtained her bachelor’s degree from ASU in Criminal Justice. She brings a vast array of knowledge and best practices in this field with experience as a parent aide, high needs case manager and preschool teacher.

And last but not least, Kenna Dunham has joined us as an administrative assistant. Kenna comes to us with more than 15 years of experience, having served as an Of-

fice Coordinator and Account Specialist. We are lucky to have her as she brings a lot of experience to our unit.

We are so lucky to have found such great team members who are willing to put in some hard work and get the Dependency Unit on track to help us move the Unit to the next level!

Submitted by: Stephanie Lewis-Smale, Supervisor

Date: Wednesday, December 18th

Time: 11:00am – 1:00pm

Place: Youth Justice Center

White Elephant Gift Exchange!

Bring wrapped/bagged gift with no name attached ($10 or less in value). Group will decide on “most original” gift at the end!

Office/ Cubicle Decorating Contest!

“Secret Santa” judges will make the rounds on the 16th/17th to cast their votes. Winners will be announced (for each office – CG, Florence, YJC)

at the 18th potluck for Best Theme and Most Creative !

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Each newsletter we will be giving staff the opportunity to acknowledge each other for going the “extra” mile to help out, do something nice and show teamwork.

Kudos to every single person on this team for not only meeting expectations lately but going beyond them. I’ve seen staff bring new ideas to the table, put in extra hours & really push themselves to their limits. Thank you! - Blanca Molina

Kudos to Debra Aguero & Adriana Carrasco who brought some probationers to help during our annual Adoption Day. We couldn’t have done it without you! - CASA Unit

Kudos to Toby Sear for your excellent skill set in problem solving! - Elaine Bridschge

Kudos to the CASA team for making another Adoption Day a great success. - John Fuery

Kudos to everyone for making the dependency transition back to JCS smooth. A special thanks to Stephanie, Liz, June, Martha, Keena, Anne, Jodi, Amanda L., Laura and Lorraine for working on the data. John Fuery

Kudos to Amanda Lairmore and Jodi Wheeler for always jumping in to help be team players to fill in at the front desk, help with dependency data, mail rounds & the list goes on and on. You are appreciated! - Donna McBride

Kudos to June Wilson for helping out with the dependency data entry and Kudos to Karen and Mandy for helping out with referral entry. True definition of teamwork! Thank you! - Elaine Bridschge

Kudos to Andy Silvas for stopping by the intake department and saw were really busy and took the timeout of his busy schedule and helped out!..... We really appreciated it. Thanks Andy! - Oscar Perez

Kudos to staff who participated in the Halloween decorating contest and afternoon surprise baby shower for John Fuery. It was great to see everyone enjoy some time together. –Donna McBride

SAVE THE DATE

Registration will be out in February for this free Training Opportunity. The Superior Court Spring COJET Conference will be held on Thursday, March 12th, 2020 in Florence, and the following topics will be offered:

• Trace a Case Through the Court System provided by

Pinal County Attorney’s Office

• Cyber Security Awareness provided by Jerry Keely

• Bloodborne Pathogens provided by Adam Short

• Ethics (specific topic TBD) provided by Gabe Goltz

The Justice Journal

A quarterly publication of

Pinal County Juvenile Court Services.

Editor: Donna McBride

Asst. Editor: Amanda Lairmore

Ideas for Stories?

Submit to Donna McBride DMcBride@courts.az.gov

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Meet Sonny: Puppy in Training Pinal Youth Justice Center

Sonny has a king-sized heart, tough enough to overcome barriers with youth in detention. When Sonny enters the facility, the faces of the youth instantly light up at the sight of him.

Youth seem to lose their hard-core personalities, nervousness and anxi-ety when they pet his little furry body. He instantly makes friends wherever he goes. Sonny also has the power to elicit some sort of equivalent of dog baby talk from adults and youth alike, because the intonation of each person’s voice changes, when they are interacting with him.

Programming with Sonny allows the youth to just be kids again. So many of our youth have had to grow up too fast, or they’ve had experiences that they were not psychologically or developmentally ready for, and they’ve missed out on some of those aspects of childhood.

Animals can play a significant role in adolescent development. Interacting with Sonny gives them the opportunity to play with a dog in a positive way. They roll around on the ground with him, pet him, and, play with him both on the recreation yard and in their housing units during some of the most challenging times of their lives.

Spending time with Sonny helps the youth alleviate stress and pro-vides them with comforting non-verbal feedback. Sonny is current-ly receiving training and so far, he's able to sit, stay, rollover and interact with people. Submitted by Celena Angstead

We are excited to welcome Lynda Schleigh to Juvenile Court Services. She is working in the Court Unit as an Administrative Assistant.

Lynda has been employed for the past 20 years as a Legal Secretary and Le-gal Assistant in California. Her expe-rience is extensive, including working in law firms that handled juvenile jus-tice cases and dependency cases.

In her free time, she enjoys “anything outdoors,” including hiking and kayaking. She also enjoys bak-ing, board games and most of all, her 3 grandchildren.

Lynda said she is excited to start her new career here and is enjoy-ing meeting everyone!

Please welcome Lynda to our department.

Welcome New Staff!

Mandy Alexander has joined the department as Program

Coordinator. The best part of her job so far is conducting

outreach and building relationships with our communities to

EMPOWER young people in the juvenile justice system.

Mandy lives in Gold Canyon, coming from Illinois. She is

the proud mama of two cats, Mr. Boots and Mr. Wiggles.

She enjoys hiking, golfing, road trips,

camping, a lover of all things outdoors.

Supervisor Elaine Bridschge reveals

that “Mandy came to us ready to rock

and roll! She has an amazing skill set

and has began building upon the men-

toring program framework from day

one. We are excited to have Mandy

on our program team!”

The Best Medicine—

A Little Holiday Laughter!

“Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit

people once a year.” —Victor Borge

“For Christmas this year, try giving less. Start with less atti-

tude. There’s more than enough of that in the world as it

is… and people will usually just give it back anyway!” —

Anne Bristow

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” — Andy Rooney

“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when

I was six. Mother took me to see him in a

department store and he asked for my

autograph.” — Shirley Temple

“Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them

in time for Christmas.” —Johnny Carson

“Christmas is a baby shower that went totally overboard.” –

Andy Borowitz

“Nothing’s as mean as giving a little child

something useful for Christmas.” –

Kin Hubbard

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Please join us in welcoming our newest

Juvenile Detention Officers at the Youth Justice Center!

We’ve recently had the wonderful opportunity of adding new people to the Juvenile Court Services Youth Justice Center family.

They come to us with a diverse variety of experience, knowledge and talent that will help us build on the program we can offer at our

facility. It is my privilege to introduce them to you today.

Mary Teter-Van Arsdale

Mary was born and raised near Wichita Kansas. Before coming to Arizona sixteen years ago, she earned

her degree in Criminal Justice at the Wichita State University and worked for the state of Kansas at a

youth intake and assessment center. In Arizona, she has worked in both the charter school setting and for

the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.

Like many of us, away from work her focus is family. She enjoys hiking, camping and photography with

her husband and three children. An unusual fact about Mary is that she owns a bearded dragon named

Bumble Bee.

Clarence Calhoun (Leon)

Leon has spent his entire career in service to his country and community. He served five years in the Unit-

ed States Navy before going on to retire from the Broken Arrow Police Department in Oklahoma.

When you first meet him, Leon comes across as a pretty calm, subdued, unassuming guy and then he starts

to share stories of his experience working with his community, the car chases, murder investigations and

serving as the public information officer for his department And then there is the fact that he and his fami-

ly relocated to Arizona because they love the Arizona summers even MORE than Arizona winters. You

quickly realize there is a lot more to this guy. In addition to Arizona, he is passionate about his family,

hiking, football and technology.

Harry Smith

Harry has more than twenty-five years of treatment experience. His work includes a behavioral health hos-

pital, a treatment facility and as a drug counselor at a correctional facility.

Harry is a self-described nerd. His interests include reading, gardening, cooking, barbequing, video games

and movies. With all of these competing for his time, he still says the single most import thing is his family.

In fact, when asked if he could eat dinner with anyone living or dead, his top three choices are his dad-still

so many things to talk about, his brother—he is a hoot and, of course, his wife.

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Erica Douglas

Erica comes to us from Maricopa County where she spent the last four years working at their adult

detention facility. She made the switch to juvenile because she fervently believes in the potential of

our youth and the importance of the work we do. It comes across in every conversation. She has seen

firsthand the difference a caring adult can make in a young person’s life, and she sees that as one way

she can give back.

In her free time, Erica coaches soccer, a game she has played since the age of five. She takes her bull-

dog, Harley, with her everywhere. And she says the craziest thing she has ever done is to play hide

and seek on a roof top in New York City. She climbed out on a ledge to hide behind a pillar. The good

news is that they couldn’t find her. The bad news is that she was in so much trouble!

Nicole Mata

Nicole’s previous work life was retail in the private sector. It was her experience as a community mem-

ber volunteering and engaging youth that made her realize that working with youth and making a dif-

ference in their lives was important to her.

She keeps busy as a mother of teenagers, one boy and one girl and she loves trips to Disneyland.

Jose Lopez

Jose has worked as a safety specialist in the North Dakota oil fields and as a fire fighter. More recently though, he spent several

years with the local private prisons before coming on board with us here, at the Youth Justice Center. He is another one where his

experience as a parent and community member, volunteering and engaging local youth inspired him to become more involved with

youth as a career.

He lists his family as the most important influence in his life. He mentioned his wife of sixteen

years, Monica, his pride in his children and their accomplishments, enjoyment playing soccer with

his son and says he is still inspired by the example and support his parents provide him.

Jose says the craziest thing he has ever done is cliff diving in Sedona.

The fun thing about surveying the new staff is finding out just how much we all have in common

and how interesting our differences are. Five of the six, highlighted today, listed hiking as an in-

terest, three listed soccer and three listed football. Disneyland was a favorite vacation for two of

our new officers, two listed Vegas and two mentioned a desire to go to Alaska. Another common

theme was the importance of family, especially parents and children. Two had cooking as a hob-

by, three said reading and one couldn’t name the last book they’d read. Two said Superman was

the worst super hero (right) and one listed Batman (clearly wrong).

Please introduce yourself when you see them and join me in welcoming them all on board. We are delighted to have them. Even the Batman hater.

Provided by Cindie Armillas

New Staff At Youth Justice Center, Cont.

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YOUTH MATTERS!

Juvenile Court Services (JCS) is proud to be a partner and spon-

sor of the Youth Empowerment Partners (YEP) who recently

held their 5th Youth Matter forum on October 25th 2019 at Cen-

tral Arizona College – San Tan Campus.

The Youth Empowerment Partners focus on equipping young

people with the knowledge and skills to make safe educated

decisions and find resiliency in the face of modern-day chal-

lenges.

Special Guests and Presentations included: Real Colors-

Juvenile Court Services, Sexting-Pinal County Attorney’s Of-

fice, Kaity’s Way-Bobbi Sudberry, Social Emotional Learning-

Joe Martinez, Surviving ACE’s-Jesse LaSoya, Save A Life-

Martinez Family, Drumming for Health-Andrew Ecker.

JCS stands behind YEP’s mission, supporting Youth Voice and

promoting positive youth development for safer and stronger

communities. Division Managers, John Fuery and Michelle

Lunn continue to the support the program, assisting their teams

in leading interactive workshops for participants on “Real Col-

ors”, a creative way to assess ones key personality traits.

We would also like to recognize Stacey Heard, Deputy County

Attorney, who presented on sexting; digital devices and pre-

venting the online perpetration of youth as it relates to the legal

and social risks.

Mandy Alexander, along with Youth Facilitators Ramon,

Keana, and Blake (Spiderman) MC’d the event, keeping the

crowd engaged and everyone on time. Also, thank you to Karen

Shogren who assisted with marketing materials and event facili-

tation. And, of course, to the wonderful Gustavo McGraw, who

was the brain child behind this event. It takes a village!

Last but not least, JCS would like to give a shout out to Blake

(Spiderman), formerly on probation but has turned his life

around now inspiring others. Blake helped out as a Youth Facil-

itator as well as provided his own drum set to entertain the

group during lunch. We are proud of you Blake!

Submitted by Mandy Alexander

“It’s funny to learn about different personality types. Now I

have a better understanding of why my friends act the way

they do.”

- Youth Participant speaking about Real Colors -

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Pinal County Juvenile Court Community Outreach It’s been a busy community event season so far and JCS has been there getting the word out about the department’s volunteer oppor-tunities such as the Mentoring program, the new San Tan Valley Teen Court, Victim Impact Panel and Restorative Justice Panels. JCS has participated in Casa Grande GAIN, Coolidge GAIN, all CORE events in San Tan Val-ley, Fright Night in Florence, Hoot Night at Walker Butte and will

also be at Holiday Fest on December 7th. And that’s just the first half of the season!

Being able to participate in these events has been a great way to foster relationships between the department and the communi-ty. It is important for the public to see JCS as not only proba-tion, but as an organization that cares about the youth of each community. Getting out information on available programs and listening to the needs that are brought up by anyone that visits the booth furthers that relationship.

Community outreach isn’t just an opportunity to do business, it’s also a lot of fun. The Medivac helicopter along with various specialty vehicles from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office have been a hit with youth of all ages as well as celebrity sightings of Sheriff Lamb and Deputy McElwain. Competitions of Tug of War between youth and Rural Metro have shown who’s boss (the youth of course!) Chalk the Block, sponsored by Supervi-

sor Goodman’s office has allowed kids to show off their artistic side while bounce houses have also been a popular attraction for the youngest attendees. Of course, all this fun made every-one hungry. Well, PCSO and Central Arizona College’s Culi-nary students took care of that with free hot dogs and hamburg-ers for everyone!

JCS looks forward to many more community outreach events that are in the works for other areas of the county.

Future Probation Officer– October CORE Event, Walker

Butte School

Submitted by Karen Shogren

CASA Staff Collaborates with Department of Child Safety on Behalf of Children

Pinal County CASA Coordinators met with the Department of Child Safety in Casa Grande in mid October. This meeting included a combination of Management, Intake Investigators, and Ongoing Case Managers which totaled 40 participants. The collaboration between CASA and DCS is vital to the success of our children and their reunification and/or adoption process. Both departments share the best interest of abused and neglected children who are involved in the juvenile courts. CASA promotes and supports community-based volunteers, certified by the Arizona Supreme Court, who provide quality advocacy to help assure each child a safe, permanent, nurturing home.

Our CASA Volunteers are held to a high standard of integrity as they will be working with DCS and our children in the system along with other parties involved. Pinal County, AZ currently has 80 CASA Vol-unteers and an average 1200 youth in care. We covered how we actively recruit through community events, word of mouth, and through CASA Ambassadors. Volunteers have qualifications as well includ-ing FBI, DPS, MVD, CHILDS, Polygraph, and Ongoing Recertification. Along with their requirements, they complete a 30 hour pre-service training and 12 hours of in-service training annually. It was im-portant for us to explain to DCS how being a CASA is a privilege, not a right as we have a strict screening process for all volunteers, and high expectations throughout. We screen every referral to the CASA pro-gram and will reach out to the DCS Case Manager once a child is selected by the CASA Advocate.

CASA and DCS continue to interface as we work together for the best interest of the child. A CASA looks at the big picture and builds a positive working relationship with the ongoing DCS Case Manager to ensure all needs are being met. It is important for DCS to be aware of our history and onboarding process so that they can build trust with our CASA partners as they work through complex cases. Communication is key for the success of our children. It is our goal to continue to hold these meetings as new DCS Case Managers come on board.

Submitted by Roseanna Jacobson, Coordinator

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Pinal County Youth Justice Center and the Hope School proudly celebrated Kids at Hope Week in November! Kids at Hope is the belief that is followed by Pinal County Juvenile Court.

Our department believes that “all kids are capable of success, No Exceptions!”

Students, teaching staff, detention officers and many others participated in a weeklong of events to recognize that we can all have hope! The event kicked off on November 4th, with Rick Miller, President of the Kids at Hope organization as the guest speaker for the students and staff. The next two weeks the students engaged in activities both on an individual basis and in teams. Denise Smith, Director of Juvenile Court Services sponsored an event called “Chalk-The-Block". Student designed their vision of what Kids At Hope meant to them and drew on a designated section of the sidewalk in the courtyard. We had many judges including Pinal County School Superintendent, Ms. Jill Broussard, Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Marty Bassett, Director Smith, Pinal County Manager Luis Ander-son and many staff from Juvenile Court Services! The Community Advisory Board (CAB) sponsored an ice-cream social during the Art Walk. All students were award-ed certificates for their hard work and commitment. The top three designs were selected, and students received a meal of their choice from a local fast food restaurant. Students also worked in teams during an activity to design, create and build Cardboard Games. Staff and guest were invited to come in to try the games out with the students. The designs were amazing! On Thursday the 14th, local celebrity Wildman Phil, shar-ing his exotic creatures with us and Antonio Espree, a for-mer juvenile (and adult) inmate sharing his story of hope with the students. An inspirational movie and nachos night on Friday was a great way to end the week! Thank you to everyone who was involved in the planning, organization, and facilitating of some great events! We could not have done it without you!

Julie Niven, Principal HOPE SCHOOL

Recent selection from the

Kids At Hope poster contest!

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CASA Celebrates

Another Adoption Day Success!

CASA BABY ALERT!

Congratulations to Division Manager John Fuery and wife Brandy on the birth of

their daughter, Leila Mae. Leila arrived on November 20th at 8lbs, 8 oz. and 20.5

inches long. Staff surprised John with a baby shower at the end of October and to

help him “understand” the pregnancy stage, he had to wear the “baby bump” for a

short while. All in good fun! Congratulations Fuery family!

The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” holds true for CASA’s day of celebration on November 2nd. Over 350

guests, volunteers and families celebrated our Annual Pinal County Adoption Day. We welcomed 44 children into forever homes

throughout the morning with an array of activities in between. From the family fun booth, arts & crafts, clowns, balloons, snacks

and special gift, including teddy bears and homemade quilts, the families left with a clear message that they were special! Many

thanks to all the CASA of Pinal County staff (and their families!) who put up with the long hours leading up to the event. Special

appreciation to Judge McCarville, Judge Steve Fuller, Judge Delana Fuller and Judge Barbara Hazel for spending the morning with

us. It was truly a day to be thankful for.

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