An aggressive effort in Denver to help drug-addicted female offenders and protect their children has been given a boost by a $4.8 million federal grant.
The grant, from the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, will cover a five-year period.
According to Karen Ashby, presiding judge of the Denver Juvenile Court, the money will be used to enhance probation services to substance-abusing female offenders by reducing recidivism. It will also help protect their children who are at risk because of their mothers’ addictions.
“This funding will help us not only to reach people that state and local agencies have difficulty identifying and serving, but also to enhance probation services to them,” said Ashby. “Such collaborative projects will help add to our body of knowledge in providing prevention and treatment services and improve those services.”
Among the agencies taking part in the effort are the the Colorado Judicial Department’s Probation Services, the Denver Juvenile Probation Department, the Denver Police Department, the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Denver Department of Human Services.
Officials said that projects funded by the grant will have two primary goals:
The first is to use “proven prevention and treatment services” in order to increase accountability by the female offenders.
The second is to provide aggressive outreach designed to contact “hard to reach” offenders who often resist treatment and refuse to comply with probation requirements.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
