SERVICES

The Department provides services to the family, justice and county courts by:

  • Preparation of pre-sentence, pre-disposition and custody investigations
  • Preparation of civil petitions for PINS, custody, visitation and family offenses
  • Providing court ordered supervision to adult offenders and those juveniles identified as either PINS or Juvenile Delinquents
  • Providing diversion services to children and families for the purpose of avoiding Court involvement and/or the detention of the child

The four major mandated functions of our department are:

INTAKE, DIVERSION, INVESTIGATION AND REPORT & SUPERVISION

1) To regulate the provision of INTAKE services so that eligible and suitable cases are resolved non-judicially and all others are either referred to petition for court intervention or to other agencies for appropriate services. In 2010, our Family Court/Domestic Violence Unit processed over 1800 referrals involving family offense, custody, visitation and support matters.

2) To provide DIVERSION services to children and families pursuant to FCA Section 735 for the purpose of avoiding the need to file a petition or direct the detention of the child.  Diversion services include efforts to adjust cases before a petition is filed, or by order of the court, after the petition is filed but before fact-finding is commenced; and preventive services provided in accordance with Section 409-a of Social Services Law to avert the placement of the child into foster care, including crisis intervention and respite services. 

3) To provide INVESTIGATION AND REPORT services in a succinct, analytical format that will offer the judiciary an evaluated basis on which to make disposition decisions on matters before them. More than 1182 pre-plea, pre-disposition and pre-sentence investigations and reports were in 2010 for more than 20 Town, Village, Supreme and Family Courts in Rockland.

4) To provide SUPERVISION services that will help to protect the community and, at the same time, fulfill the program needs of probationers by identifying and utilizing community resources via a system of differential supervision based on the individual needs of our probationers. In 2010, supervision staff monitored the compliance of more than 1400 juvenile and adult probationers allowed to remain in the community as an alternative to incarceration or placement out of the home.