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Si Le gustaría más informatión en español, por favor comuníquese con Maria Baltazar por correo electrónico: Mbaltazar@clackamas.us o llamando al 503-655-8342 ext. 7190.
With the growing Latino population throughout the state of Oregon, there is an increasing need for services within Clackamas County to be provided in Spanish. The Juvenile Department is one of several county departments that is currently providing such services.
In addition to Spanish-speaking Court Counselors who provide probation and diversion services for the youth and families served by our department, the Juvenile Department has made efforts to ensure that many of our community based partners now provide services for our Spanish-speaking youth and families in their local communities.
The Juvenile Department also continues to expand its efforts to provide much of our department information, such as appointment letters and family information forms, in English and Spanish, as well as making efforts to provide interpreters for court appearances, attorney meetings and treatment providers, if necessary.
When a youth is referred to the Juvenile Department by a police agency and Juvenile Department staff determine the youth and/or the family is Spanish-speaking, he/she is referred to one of our Spanish-speaking Juvenile Counselors who initiate contact and schedule an intake meeting for the youth and family. At the intake meeting, the Juvenile Counselor provides the youth and family with general information about the Juvenile Justice System and answers questions or concerns the family may have about the process. They also use this time to interview the youth and family to gather family history information as well as information pertaining to the alleged criminal referral. At that time, it is also determined if there are indeed language and/or cultural considerations that would verify the need for the youth/family to continue working with a Spanish-speaking Juvenile Counselor. If it is obvious to the Juvenile Counselor that there is no apparent need for Spanish-speaking services, the youth will be transferred to the Juvenile Counselor assigned to that youth's specific geographic area.
