CHINS PROGRAM

The CHINS (Children in Need of Services) intervention program services youth who are status offenders (i.e., truancy, runaway, and ungovernable).

As of January 1, 2014 there were changes made to Georgia’s juvenile codes. Article 5 creates a new approach for intervening with children who are currently considered ‘unruly.’ Children in Need of Services (CHINS) include children who have committed an act that would not be against the law but for the fact they are children, such as skipping school, running away from home, and violating curfew. CHINS also include children who are “habitually disobedient” to their parents and place themselves or others in unsafe circumstances through their behavior.


POLK/HARALSON COUNTY S,K.O,R.E.
VISION STATEMENT

            The SKORE Team will be a voluntary or court ordered option for children coming to the attention of the Polk/Haralson Counties Juvenile Court following a CHINS complaint, through a LIPT [Local Interagency Planning Team] referral, or in a delinquency or other proceeding which has dependency issues.  The Team will be utilized to help focus on the positive aspects of a child and family and to strengthen the family with assistance from the community.  The Court will inform the child and family of this diversion option through the CHINS Attorney/Guardian ad Litem who will refer them to the CHINS/SKORE Coordinator for the process to be initiated.

CORE VALUES

1.  The name “SKORE” is an acronym which expresses the core value and goal of this project: Supporting Kids on the Road to Excellence.
2. SKORE, and its constituent team members, exists to support the family, not supplant the family.  Further, the SKORE team is in place to prevent Court involvement when possible. 
3.  Except where there is a proven safety risk to a child, a family member, or the public, families are best served by supporting their efforts to solve their own problems.
4.  Disruption of the family unit caused by the removal of a child should be a last resort.  It should occur, ideally, only after all community-based resources that can be offered and still maintain safety, have been offered.
5.  When separation of a child from family is necessary, the separation should be for the shortest time possible and the child should, where possible, be placed with an extended family member, fictive kin, or another person having an ongoing commitment to the child.
6.  Every decision affecting a child or a family should be made with an understanding of the trauma the child or family may have suffered in the past, and/or the trauma that the child or the family may suffer as a result of the decisions made. 

SPECIFIC GOALS

  • Keep kids out of Court.
  • Keep kids out of foster care.
  • Keep kids out of detention.
  • Keep kids in the community.
  • Keep kids in school.