Canadian County Children's Justice Center

Why do we allow other counties to use our facilities?

Most of the services that we offer are only available to Canadian County juveniles and families. For example, only Canadian County youths can attend school at the Canadian County Education Center. The Drug Screening Program, out patient services through Behavior Health, assessments through Behavioral Health, all of the services available through the Juvenile Bureau, and Comprehensive Homes Based Services (CHBS) are only available to Canadian County families, or to persons having a case in this county.

There are exceptions, and some of our services can be accessed by other counties or person from other counties. The first is Ft. Reno Adolescence Center (FRAC), where substance abuse services are provided in a group home setting. At the time the FRAC was being planned, two different thoughts emerged. We could build a facility big enough for Canadian County and only provide treatment for juveniles from Canadian County. But by doing it that way, our county would have to pay 100% of the cost associated with the treatment of everyone in FRAC.

Instead, the leadership of the Children’s Justice Center along with the County Commissioners followed another idea. A facility was built that could accommodate more juveniles. By doing this we are able to contract with and obtain payment from the Department of Mental Health for the treatment we provide. For 2010 -2011 fiscal year, we will receive approximately $1,000,000 from the Department of Mental Health. Now we are in a situation where every person in Canadian County that qualifies for treatment has a facility in this county to receive the necessary treatment, and payment for that treatment will not cost the family nor the taxpayers of Canadian County.

The other exception or other service that can be used by other counties is the Detention Facility. Our Detention Facility can hold 28 juveniles. 16 of these spots or these beds are under contract with the Office of Juvenile Affairs (OJA), and the Juvenile Center receives over $600,000 from OJA and other sources for making these beds available. Even though these spots are under contract and we are receiving payment from OJA, we can still place Canadian County juveniles in these beds. There are also 12 beds that are not under contract and only Canadian County juveniles can be placed in one of those beds. If another County is allowed to use a detention beds they must pay a fee to Canadian County.

We believe that both Ft. Reno and Detention are set up in a manner that will provide the most good to Canadian County. We are still able to provide these services to the families of Canadian County. But due to our contracts, we are able to stretch our money further and provide additional services.