DCS goes after most dangerous runaways

DCS goes after most dangerous runaways

By NATALIA MIELCZAREK Staff Writer

4 located of 13 delinquent Metro juveniles, officials say

Hoping to deflect criticism over the high number of delinquent
juveniles who escape state custody, Tennessee Department of Children's
Services and local law enforcement conducted a sweep across Metro
yesterday to capture some of the most dangerous missing youths.

Authorities found four of the 13 children targeted — two who were
being held in Metro jail for other crimes. Two others were found at
their families' homes, officials said.

A quarter of the 214 children in state custody who remain at large
live in Davidson County.

''One of the criticisms of DCS for a long time was that when this
happened (escapes), they didn't make any effort to get them back,''
said Judge Betty Adams Green, head of Nashville's Juvenile Court. Her
department, Metro police and the district attorney general's office
are involved in the search efforts.

''Of course, that just left the young person out there, without
supervision and structure and free to get into even more trouble,''
Green said. ''We were just absolutely delighted to see them (DCS)
regroup and focus on getting those kids.''

Yesterday's roundup comes weeks after DCS Commissioner Viola Miller
created a new division of juvenile justice and appointed former
Juvenile Court Judge Steve Hornsby as its head.

In February, Tennessee Juvenile Court judges heavily criticized DCS
for the high number of children escaping or running away from DCS
facilities where they were placed to undergo rehabilitative treatment.
Children escape or run away from Tennessee DCS custody at twice the
national rate, department figures show.

Besides detaining and rehabilitating juvenile offenders, DCS also
investigates child neglect and abuse charges, and offers foster family
services.

The agency has been under scrutiny in recent years for mishandling
child protective services cases, some of which resulted in children
being injured or killed.

The department is under a federal court order to improve the operation
of its foster care system.

Expressing their discontent with DCS, two state legislators recently
have introduced bills urging separation of juvenile justice programs
from the agency.

DCS, Juvenile Court and Metro police officials have been preparing for
yesterday's sweep for about two weeks, Hornsby said. They went through
lists of the escapee names and prioritized them according to the
severity of offenses. ''I think we were successful, but it's just
going to be of an ongoing nature….,'' Hornsby said at a news
conference yesterday. ''We can't provide rehabilitative treatment to
those kids if we don't have them in the house.''

The youths on the run from DCS have criminal records sprinkled with
charges ranging from possession of drugs to possession of lethal
weapons and aggravated robbery, officials said. Once found, they'll be
placed in detention in Juvenile Court and later transferred to heavily
guarded DCS facilities with locked doors and barbed wire fences,
officials said.

Hornsby said his department is distributing escapee files to Metro
police, who will begin conducting routine patrols to find those kids
and return them to DCS. Efforts are also under way to start similar
roundups in East and Northeast Tennessee, Chattanooga and Memphis, he
said. ''We're also identifying some possibilities of developing the
ability within our own house for permanent positions of people who
would go out looking for those kids the minute they walk off the
facility,'' Hornsby said
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