DJJ Announces the Creation of the Office of Program Accountability
Aimed at Improving the Quality of Care for Youth
~ The agency’s top priority is to protect the safety and well being of youth in its care ~

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Secretary Anthony Schembri announced the creation of its new Office of Program Accountability at a statewide meeting of service providers today in Orlando.

The Office of Program Accountability provides enhanced oversight for all of the agency’s programs. It also streamlines the agency’s quality assurance, technical assistance, incident reporting, inspector general investigations, and data and research efforts.

“DJJ is committed to continuing the unprecedented reduction in the juvenile crime rate, and is simultaneously seeking to improve the quality of care we provide to our youth,” said Secretary Schembri. “We are dedicated to making agency-wide improvements aimed at ensuring accountability across all service areas.”

Specifically, the Office of Program Accountability (OPA) will do the following:

1) Enhance the monitoring and evaluating of all DJJ programs:

·         New quality assurance standards will be in place to more efficiently evaluate programs.

·         Quality assurance reviews are now unannounced and will produce an annual report card that will clearly present the program’s standing.

·         Mobile inspection teams will conduct immediate unannounced reviews as issues arise and as directed by Secretary Schembri.

·         Technical assistance staff will work directly with program leadership to correct any deficiencies identified by the quality assurance review.

·         Programs will be continually monitored to ensure any deficiencies are corrected.

·         Failure to cure any deficiencies will result in swift termination of the contract.

2) Enhance the handling of incidents:

·         The Central Communications Center, DJJ’s incident reporting hotline, will be housed in the agency’s Inspector General (IG) office to provide additional oversight.

·         IG staff will immediately review all incidents reported at any of DJJ’s programs.

·         IG staff will closely monitor all investigations to ensure appropriate action and timeliness.

·         OPA management staff will meet daily with the DJJ Secretary to provide additional oversight.

The OPA is a powerful asset to ensure programs are more closely monitored, deficiencies are immediately corrected, and incidents are handled more efficiently. DJJ is committed to serving and rehabilitating youth to protect the public and reduce juvenile crime.

The mission of the Department of Juvenile Justice is to protect the public by reducing juvenile crime and delinquency in Florida. The department is located at 2737 Centerview Drive, Tallahassee. The phone number is 850-488-1850. The website is at http://www.djj.state.fl.us

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To read the announcement on DJJ's website, click here.

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