Juvenile Services

Special Services

"Working for the Sonoma County Probation Department has allowed me to directly impact our community's youth. Each day is a challenging and rewarding new experience."

– Corey Thomas, School Probation Officer

"Educational Liaisons serve as a link between the Juvenile Court, Juvenile Probation and the schools of Sonoma County, offering assistance concerning enrollment, placement and transitions from one school setting to another."

– Tom Joynt, Sonoma County Educational Liaison

School Probation Officers:

Through State grant funding, the Probation Department has had the opportunity to provide supervision Probation Officers who are based out of local schools. They work directly with school staff and administration to provide a variety of services including participation in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings, truancy issues, Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) meetings, and disciplinary actions and hearings. The Officers work closely with school personnel and School Resource Officers to provide collaborative campus support and supervision at extra-curricular school events.

Gang Officers

With criminal street gangs on the rise in Sonoma County, the Probation Department has responded to our community's need for increased degrees of prevention, intervention and suppression. We have created two Probation supervision positions designed to address the needs of juveniles involved in or affiliated with gangs. Both of our Gang Officers receive special training to identify and evaluate persons and situations that may be gang-related, and assist in intervening with gang entrenched minors. Depending upon their level of involvement, minors identified as affiliates or members of a criminal street gang may be referred for this specialized type of supervision. Our Probation Officers work in conjunction with a variety of local police agencies and are partnered with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department's Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Team (M.A.G.N.E.T.). We also work in conjunction with The Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship, a community-based organization who facilitates Project Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Services), an intervention and suppression program for juvenile gang offenders.

Home Treatment Program:

Probation Officers assigned to the Home Treatment Program provide an intensive level of probation supervision for youth offenders who need increased structure and treatment services. This type of intensive supervision program is best applied to the highest risk youth population, as the staff ratio allows multiple weekly interactions with the youth and their families in the community. This supervision program is a partnership between Probation Services, community-based organization programs and mental health providers. Often times, minors placed on this program are required to be monitored via electronic ankle bracelet, at least during the initial phases of the program. Families are required to participate in counseling programs, both independently and as a group.

Girl's Circle:

Endorsed by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as a promising practice, Circles Across Sonoma (AKA: Girl's Circle) is designed to offer gender-responsive structured support groups for female adolescents. The support groups provide an ongoing intervention that is available and successful at any point of system entry, including diversion, supervision, residential and aftercare. The model provides a safe haven for female juvenile offenders to discuss pertinent social and developmental issues with the assistance and supervision of a trained facilitator. The participants in this program are taught behavioral skills they can utilize long after their completion of the program and into adulthood.