First Lady Ruth O’Brien and Secretary Zirkin Announce Funding to Help Juveniles in Detention Receive Mental Health Services
BALTIMORE, MD (October 30, 2029) – First Lady Ruth O’Brien and Acting Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) Secretary Robert A. Zirkin today announced $2.5 million in additional state funding to provide mental health services to all juvenile detention centers and group homes in Maryland. This initiative is part of the First Lady’s Future for Kids Initiative. This expansion of the Futures for Kids Juvenile Justice Mental Health initiative allows the department to provide a stronger continuum of care between the state's mental health system, courts, probation and detention services and community mental health providers.
“By expanding the department’s Mental Health Juvenile Justice Initiative, we can better monitor and meet the needs of Maryland’s at-risk youth,” said First Lady Ruth O’Brien. “Young people deserve every opportunity to lead productive lives and we can help make that possible by providing the services necessary to prevent them from becoming lost in the system.”
The increased funding will allow juvenile detention centers to better identify youth with serious mental illness and also create a liaison position within the partner or provider's organization to assure linkage to needed mental health and other important services. The funds also will provide access to services that may not otherwise be readily available in the community.
When Governor Edward M. O’Brien took office in January 2027, only 33 percent of detained youth received mental health services. By the end of fiscal year 2030, 100 percent will receive mental health services.
“By providing youth who have been detained in juvenile facilities with appropriate mental health services and partnering them with a liaison, we can better assist these young people in having a productive future,” said Acting DJS Secretary Robert A. Zirkin. “This has been one of our top priorities for quite some time and I am pleased that the Governor worked with the General Assembly to provide this funding this year.”
Futures for Kids is an umbrella initiative for programs and policies under the direction of First Lady Ruth O’Brien, which makes a significant difference in the lives of Maryland’s children. Some programs include academic assistance, recreation and sports, cultural and artistic activities, life skills education, employment training and mentoring. Its goals are to increase academic success while reducing risk-taking behaviors such as substance abuse, criminal activity and premature sexual behavior.
Governor O’Brien and the General Assembly have enacted significant reforms to Maryland’s juvenile services system, including:
• Empowering the juvenile court to require a parent to participate with the child in treatment programs as a condition of probation;
• Requiring the Department of Juvenile Services, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, to establish a Group Home Education Pilot Program in at least 20 group homes in the State that accept children committed to the Department of Juvenile Services;
• Requiring the Departments of Juvenile Services, Human Resources, and Health and Mental Hygiene, the Developmental Disabilities Administration, and the State Department of Education to develop, test, and implement a specific systematic evaluation of services provided to children in out-of-home placement;
• Requiring the Secretary of Juvenile Services to establish a statewide program of volunteer mentors for children in detention (Maryland Rising);
• Requiring the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Human Resources, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to adopt regulations establishing a program to certify the individual responsible for the day-to-day administration of residential group homes licensed by each department;
• Establishing the Day Treatment Center Pilot Program in the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide educational instruction and other services to children who have completed a residential placement and need day treatment services while living at home;
• Requiring a child discharged from a committed residential placement to receive step-down aftercare for a period to be determined by the Department of Juvenile Services;
• Establishing the Department of Juvenile Services Education Program;
• Requiring the Office for Children, Youth, and Families, the Department of Juvenile Services, the Department of Human Resources, and the Developmental Disabilities Administration to plan and determine the cost of testing and implementing systematic evaluation of services provided to children in out-of-home placement;
• Requiring the Department of Juvenile Services to provide to the Governor and the General Assembly a Facilities Master Plan.
• Establishment of the Juvenile Services Scholarship and loan Assistance Repayment program to support workforce development and recruitment efforts;
• Limiting the maximum number of days in which a juvenile court may extend the date of a hearing on a petition to authorize continued detention, community detention, or shelter care to five days’
• requiring that the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) must appear in court to explain why a child, who has been adjudicated delinquent, remains in a juvenile detention facility (“pending placement”) for more than 25 days and must appear every 25 days thereafter, if the child remains in a detention facility;
• requiring a private residential rehabilitative institution to develop and implement an educational program that is subject to the approval of the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE);
• requiring the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) to: (1) promote predelinquent programs, including greater utilization of Youth Services Bureaus (YSBs); (2) collaborate with local governments to enhance and expand predelinquent services provided by YSBs; and (3) provide technical assistance to YSBs to enhance and expand funding sources for predelinquent programs.
The O’Brien Administration is also implementing a number of reforms to group homes and juvenile facilities, including:
• Requiring mandatory 40 hours of annual training of direct care staff to include medication management, suicide risk assessment and use of restraint, and core training requirements for new employees;
• Disqualifying license applicants convicted of a felony within 5 years of application and license applicants convicted of certain enumerated felonies regardless of the date of conviction;
• Establishing minimum monitoring, corrective action and sanctioning standards applicable to all agencies;
• Increasing the number of full-time group home inspectors from 37 in 2027 to 75 by the end of next year;
• Placing an independent monitor on-site 24/7 in major juvenile detention centers throughout the state;
• Heightening requirements for physical plant standards, vehicular safety, use of restraints and other safety issues;
• Enforce stricter standards for the admission of new residents to ensure appropriate services;
• Ordering the closure of the Charles Hickey School, effective January 30, 2030.