The Future Plan is developed by young people with their case manager to address and prioritize identified risks, needs, and goals across multiple areas of a young person’s life and includes connections to support, services, and programs. Case Managers use the Future Plan Guidelines to help provide guidance for what to include in each area of the Future Plan. The plan supports young people in residential settings during periods of transition and following reentry to their communities. It connects care received in residence to community-based services and acts as a roadmap to for the young persons’ reentry. In residence, young people receive services that address target behaviors and promote skills. To be effective, young people must link to services in the community to promote positive development and successful reentry. The plan is written in first-person language to reflect the young person’s voice and ownership of the plan.
The Future Plan is designed for the young person to have an active role in creating plans for their future and reentry. Reentry planning is a collaboration between the young person, family, friends, and JR staff who are committed to addressing identified risks, needs, and goals in the plan.
Future Plans are updated periodically throughout the young person’s stay in JR and while receiving parole aftercare in the community if they qualify.
What does Future planning involve?
Planning begins within the first 30 days after intake. Our goal is for 100% of young people and their families to participate in Future Planning Meetings (FPMs) and that all young people are released with a reentry Future Plan in hand. We know that by collaborating with families, residential programs, parole services, tribal partners, and community support, we can better address housing, education, employment, and treatment needs.
FPMs are driven by young people and families to identify risks, needs, and goals. They result in planning activity that includes connections to support, services, and programs. Information gathered at FPMs serves as a foundation for the development of a Future Plan.
How do we prepare young people to return to their communities?
One of DCYF’s key priorities is creating successful transitions to adulthood. The goal is to lower recidivism rates and promote long-term self-sufficiency for young people by increasing their skills to maintain a healthy, productive, and crime-free life.
Reentry is a process that begins when a young person enters the Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) system and ends with the individual returning to the community with support in place, positioned to become a safer community member. We also refer to this as future planning when we include those who may be transferred to the Department of Corrections before reentering their community.
Reentry includes identifying risks, needs, and goals while providing support in the following areas: health and safety, family/living arrangements, education, substance use, employment/vocation, peer group/friends, use of free time/recreation, and legal needs/requirements.
Why focus on reentry?
Every year, around 300 individuals are released from JR institutions and community-based settings. Approximately 50% receive aftercare services in their home community. A recent DCYF recidivism analysis shows a 43% recidivism rate for felony recidivism and a 26% recidivism rate for violent felonies.
History of the reentry program:
In 2016, Governor Jay Inslee signed the Governor’s Executive Order 16-05 Building Safe and Strong Communities for Successful Reentry to address, align, and innovate reentry agendas across state and private agencies.
To promote effective reentry services for young people releasing from residential facilities, Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) launched a Youth Reentry Strategic Plan in 2013. The Reentry Action Group provided an Executive Summary as an update to JR leadership in 2015.
Prior to identifying necessary changes or enhancements to the reentry process, the agency used a self-assessment using the Second Chance Planning and Implementation Guide (provided by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) to help identify reentry gaps and barriers across the JR continuum.
Supports and Services for Reentry
Juvenile Rehabilitation Homeless Prevention Program and Services
To assist with successful reentry and transition, JR strives to ensure every individual has safe and stable housing as they exit our residential programs. Homelessness creates a level of insecurity and instability. In alignment with SB 6560, enacted in 2018 to “ensure that no young person is discharged from a public system of care into homelessness.”
Visit the Homeless Prevention Program Fact Sheet for more information or read the Improving Stability for Youth Exiting Systems of Care report.
Community Facilities
Juvenile Rehabilitation Community Facilities allow young people to gain community employment skills, strengthen family connections through enhanced visitation and home leaves, and attend public school, all in a therapeutic environment.
Community Assisted Reentry (CAR)
Community Assisted Reentry (CAR) is a voluntary program available to young people without parole obligations for up to 12 months of support to transition back into their communities successfully following release from JR. In 2021, the legislature provided funding for the “Community Support for All Young People” Decision Package, which featured community transition and reentry services.
Functional Family Parole (FFP)
Functional Family Parole (FFP): Where Community case managers provide carefully planned reentry support to promote access and connection to essential community resources. This includes employment, housing, education, and supervision to enhance a young person’s ability to follow through on Future Plans they developed while in residential care.
Community Transition Services (CTS)
Community Transition Services (launches in 2024): Expands least restrictive, therapeutic community placement options for youth to complete their legal sentence obligation. This includes access to community-based services for treatment, school, career development, employment, and skill-building. CTS promotes family engagement and community partner connections to enhance success by increasing self-sufficiency and independence for young people.