Juvenile Services

Juvenile Supervision/Special Programs

Juvenile Supervision

The Probation Department provides community supervision to minors who have been involved in a delinquent offense. Juvenile offenders can be supervised by a Deputy Probation Officer when ordered by the Juvenile Court, or on an informal basis when agreed to by the juvenile and parent as an alternative to formal juvenile Court proceedings.

Deputy Probation Officers monitor a juvenile’s compliance with his/her conditions of probation by ensuring the minor is obeying curfew and parent rules; ensuring attendance and participation at school, counseling and treatment programs; testing for drug/alcohol use; conducting searches for prohibited items; ensuring the minor is not associating with other offenders; ensuring the juvenile is completing community service work; and ensuring the juvenile is having no contact with the victim(s) and paying any victim restitution. In order to assist offenders with their rehabilitation, probation officers will refer minors and their families to services available in the community, and provide guidance, mentoring and structure. The probation officer will investigate violations of probation and may arrest the minor and/or return the minor to the Juvenile Court for further action.

 Community Alliance Reduce Truancy (C.A.R.T.)

The CART program is a collaborative partnership between the El Dorado County Probation Department and high school districts of El Dorado County that began in April of 2001. The program involves stationing a Deputy Probation Officer at various high school campuses. These probation officers provide intensive supervision and monitoring of juvenile offenders at their assigned schools. The officers maintain a high profile of presence on the school campus to help create a safe school environment by deterring problem behaviors, delinquent activity and violence. The officers work collaboratively with school personnel, law enforcement and community agencies to provide prevention, intervention and outreach assistance to “at-risk” students and the entire student body and their families.

Teen Court

Teen Court is a diversion program of the Juvenile Court involving cases where minors have admitted to a delinquent offense and agree to receive a disposition from a jury of their peers. Teenage students are recruited from local high schools to serve as jurors, attorneys, bailiffs and court clerks. Attorneys from the community volunteer as mentors to assist student attorneys during Teen Court proceedings. A judge or volunteer attorney presides over the hearings. A hearing is conducted and disposition recommendations are created by the teen jury. Dispositions include supportive measures and sanctions appropriate for each minor.

Juvenile Drug Court Program

The Juvenile Drug Court Program is a Court based, multi-disciplinary team approach with a strong judicial leadership role for the processing and treatment of drug offenders. This program addresses the needs of non-violent minors for whom the primary basis of delinquent behavior is drug/alcohol abuse with the goal of returning them to a drug-free life. With the Judge as the treatment team leader, probation officers and treatment professionals work collaboratively to develop a strategy that is in the best interest of the minor and society.

Out of Home Placement

The Juvenile Court may order a juvenile offender to be placed in a group home, foster home, or home of a relative or non-relative extended family member. When such an order is made, the Probation Department will place the minor in the most appropriate setting after evaluation of numerous factors, including, but not limited to: the minor’s educational needs, mental health needs, substance abuse history, delinquency and other risk factors, ability to thrive in the parental home, and the parent stability and/or availability. While placed out of the home, the minor will receive counseling and education services, as well as supervision by a Deputy Probation Officer, who will ensure the minor is participating in services. Whenever appropriate, a minor will be reunified with a biological parent after completion of the out of home placement program. 

If a relative or non-relative extended family member (family friend, pastor, teacher, etc.) of a juvenile offender who is placed in an out of home placement program would like to become a part of the minor’s life, including having contact and/or providing support, the relative or non-relative extended family member should make contact with the minor’s probation officer. Either the Placerville or the South Lake Tahoe Probation Office may be called, and ask for the probation office of the specific minor. More information will be provided once contact with the probation officer is made.

This program is designed to allow minors who would otherwise be detained in a Juvenile Detention Facility to return home under supervision provided by the Probation Department. Conditions of detention in the home are provided in writing to the minor, who shall agree to and follow each condition. The majority of minors in the program are monitored by electronic monitoring equipment. Participants who violate the conditions of the program are returned to secure detention and to the Juvenile Court for further disposition.