How an alternative court model helps at-risk youth and their parents in Fayette County
When Andrea Jones' 16-year-old son told her he was going to the movies as he walked out the door just after Christmas 2022, she knew it was a lie.
Their relationship was strained. Her son had an attitude, she said, and he was doing terribly in school. He sometimes ran away from home and broke into stores. His actions were so volatile, his siblings and mother felt tense and anxious about what he may do next.
When he looked at his mother's face and lied that night, Jones told the Herald-Leader, she just had no fight left in her.
"This is the hardest thing I have had to go through as a parent," Jones said. "Knowing that life is going to have to teach them and (my kids) won't let me do it, and that could result in jail or death."
No sooner than she could sit down to order dinner, she got a call from the Lexington Police Department.
Police arrested her son after he was found riding around in a stolen car with firearms and marijuana. Jones' son and his two friends attempted to flee the police on foot.
"When the police called with that, my son thought I could just get him out, but I said, 'Honey you have done it. You have done something bigger than me. The only way I can help you is if you tell the truth,'" Jones recalled.
When she went to see her son in jail, she saw a boy she hadn't seen in a long time. Stripped down to jail garb, she could see the reality of the situation weighing on him. When he got out, he was put on probation. He still attempted to maintain a relationship with the boys he'd gotten into trouble with, refusing to accept things so desperately needed to be different.
"This is it for my son," Jones accepted. "This is a turning point, and he is going to keep on going to jail, until he figures it out. This is the beginning of my son in the revolving door."
Fate intervened and her son was offered the chance to participate in a new program in Fayette County — the first of its kind in the state — that could give him a fresh start.
Program alternative sentencing model for Fayette County youth
Fayette County Juvenile Treatment Court was created in March 2022 by district court judges Melissa Murphy and Lindsay Hughes Thurston. It is an alternative sentencing court model which uses combined methods to reduce the number of kids reentering the system while increasing their overall wellness by addressing the root causes of trauma.
The foundation of the program began when Thurston and Murphy were prosecutors and saw the need for a different approach in the juvenile court system to address crimes that could have stemmed from young offenders' pervasive trauma.
As judges, they see everything in court from a dog running at-large to murder. But the common thread in many juvenile cases is the necessity of community support, individualized plans and the role of mentors paired with at-risk youth.
"We can give the penalty. We can make them be on probation. We can do it. But if we don't ever address the root cause, then it's just going to grow again," Murphy said.
Participation in the juvenile treatment court is voluntary by both the child and the parent. Kids are referred into the program through a designated court worker, the Fayette Family Court or Fayette Juvenile Court.
Kivvi Figgs, program coordinator with Fayette County Public Schools, is an instrumental part of the staff and participants' success, according to the judges and families, who everyone lovingly calls "Ms. Kivvi."
"I love what I do. I love that the way that the court has set this up and made it all work. I love getting to know the kids," Figgs said.
The program contains a four-phased approach that requires no new charges, an individual participant plan, assessment and drug screening. The participants take part in programs like ONE Lexington, drug education, public events at the library, safety seminars, Goodwill reentry simulations, Lex Tran education, yoga, therapy, weekly tutoring and aquatics.
As of Sept. 30, 11 youths have graduated from the program, five of whom have graduated from Fayette County Public Schools.
Looking back, Jones was surprised her son wanted to participate. Now, as a graduate of the program, Jones said her son did a complete 180.
"It is not even, 'Oh I got my son back,'" she said. "I have never known this version of my son."
Throughout the program, her son participated in group meets with other program participants and even took a yoga class. He chose to do community service, where he volunteered with the elderly.
During the program's inception, the world was experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic which subsequently highlighted the importance of mental health resources — something Thurston and Murphy wanted within the program.
Graduate Jaden Slone said therapy was the component that made the biggest impact on him to improve his mental health and stop smoking marijuana.
He had run away from home and was truant at school when he entered the program. His relationship with family was "bumpy" and he found himself in jail after his father pressed charges against him for a fight which resulted in a broken television.
Slone's perspective of judges and the system was simple: He didn't like them and thought they were there to make him the bad person in a situation.
"They wanted me to be another kid in the system that fails," he recalls thinking.
When he was offered the opportunity to participate in juvenile treatment, he was confused by the concept but knew that completion meant his charges would disappear.
As Slone worked through the program, he stopped smoking and his attitude towards school changed. As a senior in high school, Slone worked his way up from less than two credits to 20 credits and was eligible for graduation.
But he didn't want just anyone from the district's school board to hand him his diploma. He wanted Murphy — the judge who pushed him — to be the one to hand it to him.
He is now a certified nursing assistant living at his own apartment in Louisville and working to get his nursing degree.
"I definitely take pride in being here everyday," Slone said. "I didn't care about life, or what happened the next day. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to do dual credits and not have received my CNA. ... I would not be the person I am today and I would not have matured the way I have."
Programming helps support parents
While the program aims to help high-risk youth, another factor of the program is the support of the parents.
Murphy and Thurston said much of what they witness is generational issues and trauma: substance use, lack of financial aid, domestic violence and single-parent homes.
"Even on a more basic level, we asked these kids, do you have food, just food in your fridge? And if not, she takes them a bushel of groceries," Thurston said. "And it's just, we always ask them when they're in our court, you know, what do you need? And mom, what do you need?"
Ashley West's son is almost 17, and he graduated from the program in July. There is a long road ahead of him, still, she admitted.
West first noticed the negative change in her son's behavior around age 12, when he would leave home without saying where he was going. It escalated to drinking and smoking marijuana. At 14, he began running away, staying in abandoned houses, missing for days on end.
West herself struggled with mental health issues and previous substance use. She was a single mother, and often pleaded with Child Protective Services to help with her son.
"I had been dealing with judges through a dependency case with my son and (child protective services)," she said. "I felt like I wasn't getting the help I needed, and that it is a broken system. It's like, because they are teenagers, they do what they want to do."
But after he was arrested and invited to participate in the juvenile treatment program, he would become one of the first graduates.
West remembers feeling like the program's involvement would not only be a win with the ability to receive support and treatment for herself, but to support her son.
West said her son loves music, aspires to be a barber and is a wonderful big brother to his sister. While he completed the program, she said her son is still trying to find his way and continue to grow.
The program has helped West, too. When her son was growing up, he saw her focus on things that weren't good for her own betterment. Because of the treatment court, she has learned that in order for her son to become better, she also has to work on herself.
"All of his necessities was taken care of — that was the norm. But I wanted to do better, and I needed to do better," she said. "He saw me partying on the weekend and (I) was worried about a man instead of putting in work for me to be better and for the kids to be better. Without JTC, I wouldn't have been pushed that way."
The program is funded through the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, but donations can be made through the program's non-profit, You Matter, Kentucky! Monetary donations can be made, and other donations can include gift cards for incentives and supplies such as backpacks and gas cards.
