Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic
In 2003, the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County established the Juvenile Court Clinic as a non-judicial office to provide forensic evaluations for the Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Departments of the Cook County Juvenile Court (for more information see: Clinic History). Since then, the Juvenile Court Clinic has operated under the management of Northwestern University in continued partnership with Cook County. The Juvenile Court Clinic is located in the Cook County Juvenile Center, which contains the Juvenile Court’s Juvenile Justice and Child Protection courtrooms, the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), the Department of Juvenile Probation and other entities affiliated with the Juvenile Court. This location permits the Juvenile Court Clinic staff to be well-integrated with and responsive to the needs of the Juvenile Court, its constituents, and court-affiliated entities.
Clinic Mission and Services
Beginning with the initiation of our latest contract in March 2022, the Juvenile Court Clinic’s services were divided into two distinct divisions: the forensic assessment division and the psychological assessment division.
The mission of our forensic assessment division is “to provide relevant, objective, and culturally sensitive forensic information that helps inform legal decision making.” The Juvenile Court Clinic employs forensically trained mental health professionals from various disciplines who carry out a variety of court-ordered services to help judges, lawyers, probation officers, child welfare caseworkers, and JTDC staff make informed and relevant decisions concerning youth and families in Juvenile Justice and Child Protection legal proceedings. These services include:
- Court-ordered forensic evaluations, including:- Fitness to stand trial
- Competence to waive Miranda rights
- Sentencing
- Risk assessments for detention decisions/plea bargains
- Transfer or waiver to adult court
- Criminal responsibility (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity)
- Parenting capacity assessments to inform visitation, permanency goals, or family reunification decisions
- Evaluations for termination of parental rights due to a mental illness (Ground P evaluations)
- Capacity to voluntarily relinquish parental rights
- Evaluations of problematic sexual behaviors/juvenile sex offender evaluation
- Triage and consultation with judges and other Juvenile Court personnel concerning mental health issues, including:
- Assistance with establishing specific referral questions
- Documentation of referrals and communication about potential referral sources
- Follow-up with referral sources
- Consultation and training for courtroom personnel (e.g., judges, assistant states attorneys, defense attorneys, guardian ad litem, probation officers) regarding our services and forensic or mental health issues · Graduate level placement for students in psychology and psychiatry (view Feinberg Forensic Psychiatry fellowship)
- Undergraduate internships for students in psychology and criminal justice
- Program evaluation to monitor and measure the quality, adequacy and utility of the Juvenile Court Clinic’s services to the court
- Dissemination of research using data from the Juvenile Court Clinic that can help to inform practice in similar clinics across the country
The psychological assessment division’s mission is “to ensure timely access to relevant, accurate and culturally sensitive clinical information that promotes the best possible outcomes for court-involved youth.” The Juvenile Court Clinic provides non-forensic psychological assessments of court-involved youth to assist with service planning. These assessments are typically requested by probation officers, after youths have been adjudicated, to clarify mental health diagnoses, assess for cognitive or learning difficulties, and inform treatment needs. These evaluations are not intended to inform legal decisions.
Research and Dissemination
The Juvenile Court Clinic’s missions and services are facilitated by ongoing program evaluation, internal training, and research. Frequent training opportunities offered to CCJCC staff help to ensure our work aligns with the criteria established in the mission statements while also reflecting best practice standards for forensic mental health and clinical psychological evaluations. In addition, several staff members are involved in research projects that explore assessment practices in parenting capacity and juvenile justice evaluations. To date, this research has provided the foundation for the following conference presentations and publications:
- Fernandez Smith, K., & O’Donnell, P.C. (2023) Practice tips for managing challenges in parenting capacity assessments in child protection court. Family Court Review, 61(4), 818-31.
- O’Donnell, P.C., Welty, L.J., & Cheung, Y. (March, 2023). Timing and success of restoration of youth found incompetent to stand trial in juvenile court. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American-Psychology Law Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- O’Donnell, P.C., Warfe, S., & Smith, K.F. (March, 2022). Juvenile competency to stand trial outcomes: Predictors of competency findings and restoration. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American-Psychology Law Society, Denver, Colorado.
- O’Donnell, P.C. & Smith, K.F. (March, 2020). Challenges and Recommendations for Conducting Pre-trial Risk Assessments in a Juvenile Court Setting. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Smith, K.F. (August, 2019). The challenge of communicating risk for violence. In S. Bader (Chair), Forensic Evaluation of Juveniles – Challenges and Strategies. Symposium paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
- Garcia, J., Smith, K.F., O’Donnell, P.C., & Fiori, H. (March, 2019). How do protective factors influence court outcomes in child protection cases? An exploration of the impact of culture and economic status. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Portland, Oregon.
- Smith, K.F., O’Donnell, P.C., Rynczak, D., & Dalinis, R. (March, 2019). Exploring the use of a structured risk measure with mothers and fathers involved in child protection court. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American-Psychology Law Society, Portland, Oregon.
- Spinelli, T., O’Donnell, P.C., Smith, K.F., & Murphy, C. (March, 2019). Exploring the prejudicial impact of describing parents as “noncompliant” in forensic parenting capacity assessments. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American-Psychology Law Society, Portland, Oregon.
- O’Donnell, P. C., Rynczak, D., Smith, K. F., & Dastrup, K. R. H. (March, 2018). The need for a risk assessment tool for Parenting Capacity Assessments. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, Tennessee.
- Smith, K. F., O’Donnell, P. C., Garcia, J., Fiori, H., Murphy, C., & Young, K. (March, 2018). Predictive validity of a child maltreatment risk inventory in determining 5-year outcomes in child protection cases. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, Tennessee.
- Spinelli, T., Serafin, P., Smith, K. F., O’Donnell, P. C., Friday, T., & Boston, J. (March, 2018). The use of Parenting Capacity Evaluations in child protection courtrooms. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, Tennessee.
- Smith, K. F., Rynczak, D., O’Donnell, P. C., Serafin, P., & Devaud, A. M. (March, 2017). A critical review of the psychometric properties of tests used in child welfare parenting capacity assessments. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Seattle, Washington.
Clinic History
The Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic developed from a research and reform project completed as part of a collaboration between Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the Office of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The multi-year project, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, established that clinical information is frequently valuable in assisting Juvenile Court judges with difficult and/or complex legal decisions. The project also determined that numerous obstacles hampered Juvenile Court judges’ ability to obtain timely, relevant and accurate clinical information. These obstacles included: inappropriate and/or vague referrals that yielded little or no useful information, a backlog of requests that produced lengthy delays to obtaining needed information and little or no communication between Juvenile Court and clinical providers. The research project proposed a model for a court clinic that incorporated a variety of services to minimize or eliminate those problems and enhance the use of clinical information for obtaining the best possible results for court-involved minors and families. The clinic’s operation is based on the research model and operates under Northwestern management in continued partnership with Cook County.
The following publications provide additional information about the development and implementation of the Juvenile Court Clinic’s model:
- Biehl, J.L. & Kahn, B.A. (2002). A Practice Model for Acquiring and Using Clinical Information in Juvenile Court. Youth Law News, 13(2):6-11.
- Scally, J.T., Kavanaugh, A.E., Budd, K.S., Baerger, D.R., & Kahn, B.A. (2001-2002). Problems in Acquisition and Use of Clinical Information in Juvenile Court: One Jurisdiction’s Response. Children’s Legal Rights Journal 21(4):15-24.
- Kavanaugh, A.E., Clark, J., Masson, T., &Kahn, B.A. (2006). Obtaining and Utilizing Comprehensive Forensic Evaluations: The Applicability of One Clinic’s Model. Nevada Law Journal 6(3):890-912.
- Kahn, B.A., O’Donnell, P., Wernsman, J., Bushell, L., & Kavanaugh, A. (July 2007). Making the Connection: Legal Advocacy and Mental Health Services. Family Court Review 45(3):486-500.
Contact Us
For more information, contact Philip C. O'Donnell, MJ, PhD, at philip.odonnell@northwestern.edu or 312-433-6666.
Director
Associate Director
Clinical Coordinator Supervisor
Michael Clements, MSW
Clinical Coordinators
Nereasa Bello-Sykes, MA, MJ
Jennifer Boston, MA, LPC
Tamara Friday, LCSW
Karen Pitroda, LCSW
Maria Mejia-Ramirez, LSW
Staff Psychologists
Mandi Adydan, PsyD
Sweety Agrawal, PsyD
Danielle Bracken, PsyD
Tiffany Clomax, PsyD
Michael Igaravidez, PsyDZoe Liebowitz, PsyD
Michaela Mozley, PhD, LSOE, LSOTP
Psychological Assesment Division Lead Psychologist
Brian Curran, PsyD
Support Staff
Christie Clark, clinic administrative assistant
Rita Dalinis, MPPA, program evaluation & resource supervisor
Sierra Warfe, program evaluation assistant & psychological assesment program coordinator
Martin Nkansah, MsEd, records custodian
Maria Rodriguez, record gatherer