Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems Program

Grants to USA and territories nonprofits, for-profits, government agencies, tribal governments, and IHEs for the development, enhancement, and implementation of programs that effectively treat youth with behavioral problems. Applicants are advised to ensure the required registrations well in advance of the deadline.

Selected recipients will provide multidisciplinary, comprehensive approaches to the intervention and supervision of youth with sexual behavior problems and treatment services for their child victims and families. Award recipients will target services for youth with sexual behavior problems, their child victim(s), and parents/caregivers of the offending youth and child victims.

Youth participating in this program must undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if they are amenable to community-based treatment and intervention. Youth targeted for program services should have no prior history of court involvement for sexual offenses. OJJDP must approve any deviation from this target population parameter prior to admission to the program.

The purpose of this program is to prevent sexual reoffending, promote healing, and provide services for victims and families. This program will assist communities in developing a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to providing treatment services and community supervision for youth with sexual behavior problems and treatment services to the victims and families of these youth. The program will focus on interfamilial and/or coresidential child victims and youth with problematic sexual behaviors.

Examples of these types of sexual behaviors include, but are not limited to, sexual contact between children who do not know each other well (i.e., foster home or institutional setting); sexual contact between children of different ages, sizes, and developmental levels; aggressive or coerced sexual contact; sexual contact that causes harm to the child or others; and sexual contact that causes another child to be highly upset and/or fearful.

Since 2010, OJJDP and the SMART Office have partnered to support the Youth With Sexual Behavior Problems Program, which provides comprehensive, community-based interventions with the above-mentioned youth. In FY 2017, OJJDP and the SMART Office expect to fund new project sites and provide training and technical assistance to these new sites on comprehensive, multidisciplinary approaches to treating youth with sexual behavior problems and their child victims. The program will focus on interfamilial and/or coresidential sexual misconduct by youth ages 9 to 14 and provide adjunctive support services to child victims and families who have been victimized.

Applicants should propose comprehensive, evidence-based intervention strategies for serving both the child victim(s) and the youth with sexual behavior problems and their parents/caregivers. Program models that have been shown to be effective with this target population include, but are not limited to, the use of cognitive-behavioral or psychoeducational interventions (i.e., trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, support groups, and multisystemic therapy).

In addition, applicants should be aware that implementing evidence-based services for youth with problematic sexual behaviors, child victims, and families requires dedication to service coordination. Previous successful efforts by grantees have included hiring a family advocate or similar position for recruitment, engagement, coordination, and follow-through for services for families.

Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables:

Program Sites:

OJJDP will fund new program sites that will provide a comprehensive community-based intervention model to serve youth who have sexual behavior problems and are in pre- or post- adjudication for inappropriate sexual behavior with a family member, coresident, or other child with close social ties to the youth who committed the offense. The proposed interventions should also include support services for the child victim and nonoffending family or household members.

Applicants should have a functioning multidisciplinary team that can support a comprehensive, holistic approach to treat both the child victim and the youth with sexual behavior problems and a history of working with interfamilial child abuse cases. At a minimum, multidisciplinary teams should consist of social services staff, probation staff, juvenile court staff, mental health personnel, victim advocate personnel, law enforcement, and community-support providers. This team should serve as the case staffing entity to determine service provision, including treatment and case management and supervision for the youth with sexual behavior problems, the child victim, and their families.

Teams should be aware of which professionals can serve youth when their behavior is considered illegal sexual behavior within their jurisdiction, and plan accordingly in regard to serving youth deferred and youth adjudicated for an illegal sexual behavior.

The successful applicant will develop and implement a comprehensive program for the target population over a 24-month period. OJJDP expects program sites to work closely with the training and technical assistance provider and include their community partners in the collaborative learning process that the training and technical assistance provider will establish.

Deliverables:

Deliverables for the program sites will serve as a guide to other communities that wish to replicate the program and will include the development and/or use of the following:

-A comprehensive community-based strategy to treat youth ages 9 to 14 with sexual behavior problems who are in pre- or post-adjudication status for inappropriate sexual misconduct against a child family member, coresident, or other child with close social ties.

-An evidence-based treatment curriculum responsive to the targeted population (i.e., youth with
sexual behavior problems, child victims of youth with sexual behavior problems, parents/caregivers).

-A multidisciplinary team to address sexual behavior problems in youth, to include social services staff, probation staff, juvenile court staff, mental health personnel, victim advocate personnel, law enforcement, and community-support providers.

-A strategy to provide community-based support services to child victims and families of youth with sexual behavior problems.

-Reports that speak to the effectiveness of the community-based interventions and the challenges encountered during implementation, to be submitted to OJJDP and the training and technical assistance provider.