October 2008

Report No. 08-58

Pilot to Waive Fees for Delinquents Has Low
Enrollment and Is Not Teaching Intended Skills
at a glance
As directed by the Legislature, the
Department of Juvenile Justice established a
pilot program in the 4th and 11th judicial
circuits to waive parental fees for department
supervision of delinquent youth if parents
complete a designated parenting class.
Because the pilot was not appropriated
funding, DJJ selected vendors that already
were operating classes with funding from
other sources and were willing to include
parents from the pilot at no cost to the
parents or the department.
However, rather than teaching skills for
parenting delinquents, as the Legislature
intended, one course focuses on relationships
and the other on marriage. Enrollment is low
and there is little evidence that participation
reduces recidivism of participants’ children.
The pilot is scheduled to end in June 2009.
If the Legislature wishes to continue the
program, we recommend that it direct DJJ to
implement an evidence-based program that
teaches specific skills for parenting
delinquents and charge parents to participate,
as authorized by law.

Scope ______________________
Section 985.0395(3), Florida Statutes, directs OPPAGA to
annually review the waiver pilot program administered
by the Department of Juvenile Justice. 1

Background _________________
The Legislature has authorized the Department of
Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to assess the parents of youth under
its care and custody a fee to partly offset the costs of
supervision. 2 These fees are $5 per day for youth in
secure detention and residential commitment facilities
and $1 per day for youth on non-residential commitment,
home detention, aftercare, and probation. As youth can
spend several months in programs these fees can be
significant; for example, parents of a youth in a six-month
residential program would be assessed $900 in
supervision fees.
The Legislature created a three-year pilot program that
allows a one-time waiver of these fees for parents who
complete a parenting course approved by the department. 3
Parents who complete the course have all outstanding
supervision fees waived retroactively, including those
incurred for their child’s prior offenses. In addition, all
supervision and care fees for any siblings are also waived,
and this waiver is also retroactive. However, payments
already made are not refunded.
1

See also OPPAGA Report No. 07-34, Pilot to Waive Fees for Parents of
Delinquents Should Focus More on Parenting Skills, August 2007.

2

Section 985.039, F.S.

3

Section 985.0395, F.S.

Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability
an office of the Florida Legislature

OPPAGA Report

Report No. 08-58

The waiver program was piloted in the 4th
Judicial Circuit (Clay, Duval, and Nassau counties)
and the 11th Judicial Circuit (Miami-Dade
County). 4
The pilot was not appropriated
funding. Instead, the Legislature authorized DJJ
to charge parents to participate in the classes as a
way to fund the pilot program. However, in an
effort to encourage participation DJJ selected
vendors that already were operating programs
with funding from other sources and were willing
to serve pilot parents at no cost to the participants
or the department.

Prior Findings

self-esteem, recognizing abusive relationships, and
personal accountability.
Enrollment in these
courses was low, especially in the 11th Judicial
Circuit.
We recommended that DJJ implement an
evidence-based program to teach skills for
parenting delinquent adolescents and that the
department could charge parents a fee, as
authorized by s. 985.0395(2)(b), Florida Statutes, to
pay the costs of developing such a program in the
absence of a specific appropriation.

Current Status____________

____________

DJJ has not implemented the recommendations
from our 2007 report. It has continued to use the
current programs, which have not been restructured
to teach skills specific to parenting delinquent
children. The department has elected not to charge
parents to participate in the waiver pilot due to
concerns that such fees would reduce participation.

OPPAGA’s 2007 review found that the pilot
programs did not teach skills specific to parenting
delinquents, as intended by the Legislature.
In the 4th Judicial Circuit, DJJ entered into an
agreement with Jacksonville’s Network for
Strengthening Families to offer an eight-hour
workshop designed to change family attitudes and
improve interpersonal relationships. In the 11th
Judicial Circuit, DJJ entered into an agreement with
Trinity Church’s Peacemakers Family Service
Center to offer a 14-hour parenting course based
on the Strong Families curriculum. This course
covers topics such as healthy relationships, family
communication, money management, improving
4

As shown in Exhibit 1, participation in the
program continues to be low. In the 4th Judicial
Circuit, 279 families have enrolled in the program
over its two and one-half years of operation, 8% of
those eligible. In the 11th Judicial Circuit only 60
families have enrolled to date, 1% of those
eligible.

The 4th Judicial Circuit program began in October 2006 and the
11th Judicial Circuit program began in January 2007.

Exhibit 1
Pilot Program Participation Remains Low
Measure

Circuit 4

Circuit 11

3,507

4,296

$802,062

$1,147,068

Number of delinquency cases in which parents agreed to complete an approved parenting class

279

60

Number of delinquency cases in which the parent submitted notarized documentation of
successful completion to the court

2561

12

Number of delinquency cases in which the court entered an order waiving fees

256

9

$159,222

$214,668

$112,153

$3,225

Number of delinquency cases in which fees were required to be ordered
Total amount of fees assessed in delinquency cases in which they were required to be ordered

Total amount of fees waived

2

Fees waived by Pilot
1

There is a time lag between the course completion and fee waiver in Circuit 4 due in part to a month-long delay between the end of the course and
graduation. In addition, the waiver order must be signed by a judge. Once a month, following the graduation ceremony, the director notarizes
copies of the certificates and mails them to DJJ. The department then faxes each waiver certificate to the appropriate judge to obtain the required
signature. Parents may thus continue to be billed for several months after completing the program .

2

Judges may waive fees for other reasons such as indigence.

Source: Department of Juvenile Justice Office of Probation and Community Corrections.

2

Report No. 08-58

OPPAGA Report
had higher recidivism rates than children of
non-participants. Such children typically have
committed more extensive or serious delinquency
offenses.

Additionally, many families that have enrolled in
the program have not submitted notarized
documentation to the court that they successfully
completed the courses. This is particularly a
problem in the 11th Judicial Circuit, where only 12
of the 60 families (20%) who enrolled in the pilot
program submitted such documentation. In the
4th Judicial Circuit most (91%) of enrolled families
submitted documentation of course completion.

These results should be interpreted with caution
due to the low number of participants.
Nonetheless, the available data does not show
that the fee waiver pilot program results in a
significant improvement in juvenile justice
outcomes.

There is little evidence that parents’ participation in
the pilot classes reduces their children’s
recidivism. 5 The low number of families who had
documented course completion in 11th Judicial
Circuit precludes comparison of recidivism
outcomes. As shown in Exhibit 2, results were
mixed in the 4th Judicial Circuit. Participants’
children who had been placed in detention had
slightly lower recidivism rates in the six months
after release than non-participants’ children.
However, participants’ children who were released
from probation or residential commitment

5

As provided by s. 985.0395, Florida Statutes, the
pilot will end June 30, 2009. Given these results, if
the Legislature wishes to continue the fee waiver
program, we recommend that it direct DJJ to
implement an evidence-based program that
teaches specific skills for parenting delinquent
adolescents and charge parents to participate, as
authorized by law. If the class teaches useful
parenting skills that help families successfully
address their children’s delinquency, parents may
be willing to participate even if there is a small fee.

Section 985.0395, F.S., directs OPPAGA to provide this analysis.

Exhibit 2
Recidivism Results for Children of Participants Are Mixed in the 4th Judicial Circuit
Program

Fees

Youth Released 1

Releases Referred for
Delinquency 2

Recidivism Rate 3

Detention

Fees Waived
Fees Not Waived

209
3,286

50
1,036

24%
32%

Probation

Fees Waived
Fees Not Waived

72
917

15
137

21%
15%

Residential Commitment

Fees Waived
Fees Not Waived

47
805

19
218

40%
27%

1

Youth may be released from multiple programs within the time period of analysis (October 1, 2006, through December 31, 2007), which would result
in a larger number of participants than indicated in Exhibit 1.

2

Releases were calculated for a six-month period from the date of the child’s release from the custody of DJJ. In the case of children whose parents
completed the parenting class AFTER their child was released from the custody of DJJ, the six-month follow-up period used in the analysis begins
on the date the parent(s) completed the parenting course.

3

Recidivism rate is calculated by dividing the number of releases referred for delinquency within six months, by the number of youth released from
the supervision type (detention, probation or residential commitment) during the time period.

Source: Department of Juvenile Justice Office of Research and Planning.

3

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