Staff Recruiting Key to Success

It’s an exciting time as the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention prepares to open four new replacement facilities in the next several months.

A 96-bed facility is being constructed in Cabarrus County, and three 32-bed facilities are well underway in Edgecombe, Lenoir and Chatham Counties.  The Cabarrus County facility, located in Concord on the campus of the Stonewall Jackson Youth Development Center, is expected to be completed by the end of May.  The Chatham County facility, in Siler City on Highway 64, is expected to open the end of April.  The Edgecombe County facility, located in Rocky Mount adjacent to the existing Fountain Correctional Center for Women on Tanner Road, is expected to begin operations by the end of March. The Lenoir County facility, located in Kinston across the street from Dobbs Youth Development Center, is expected to open by the end of March. 

Construction of replacement facilities will lay the foundation for implementation of a more therapeutic approach to providing services to our youth and their families, resulting in a more community-oriented juvenile justice system.  By providing youth throughout North Carolina with smaller, community-based facilities, the Department will achieve the goal of more effectively assisting youth with the skills they need to become productive members of their communities.

The most recent activities and priorities as we prepare for transition to our new facilities have focused on hiring staff and planning services for the new facilities.  The Department is continuing to recruit for human services professionals who are motivated and are committed to working with youth.

The staff recruitment process, begun early last year, has resulted in a number of interesting applicants from very diverse backgrounds. Each applicant has one goal in common - a sincere desire to help our youth reach their highest potential. One applicant sought the same position at three of our four new facilities. Several applicants relocated to North Carolina specifically to work with youth in our facilities.  In addition, many of the Department’s current employees have a desire to work within the new therapeutic model and have sought promotional opportunities. One applicant, after submitting her employment application, continued to phone us every couple of days until she was called for an interview, and eventually hired as one of our youth monitors at the Edgecombe facility.  The applicant stated that she has always enjoyed mentoring young people, and her most recent experience shows almost three years working with adolescents. After the birth of her baby, the applicant was seeking to return to work, and her new position fulfills her personal goals of allowing her to remain in her own community, while working in the field and with a population she enjoys. Efforts have been made to attract staff by placing advertisements for our positions in local newspapers which serve the communities where our new facilities are located. Employment offers have been made and accepted for several of our positions; however, we continue to need additional employees, including social workers, psychologists, teachers, youth counselors, youth counselor supervisors, youth counselor associates, staff nurses, food service supervisors and cooks.  As part of our recruitment process, every new staff member undergoes a thorough criminal justice and psychological screening process to ensure the most appropriate employees are hired prior to working with our youth.

In addition to staffing, and in preparation for opening, members of the Department have been engaged in ongoing meetings over the past year to plan service provision to our youth, including training our staff to work with the new Model of Care, arranging transportation to training sites for new employees, determining supervision and oversight options for professionals at each site, securing service contracts, and purchasing furnishings, equipment and supplies.  Other activities have involved developing strategies for food service preparation and determining maintenance needs of each facility, which are among the many issues and details that are the focus of staff planning efforts as we move closer to facility openings.