Is a JJ P&A a cost-effective approach?
• A national JJ P&A Program would be cost-effective in many ways. P&A agencies have the expertise, experience, and infrastructure (offices, computer equipment, databases, etc.) to immediately increase their advocacy in the JJ system upon receipt of funding to hire additional staff. • P&As promote the use of evidence-based services, supports, and sanctions for preventing delinquency and diverting YwD from the JJ system that are: • P&As are knowledgeable about federal Medicaid and Social Security rights and benefits, and seek to leverage them to secure education, employment, and treatment services and supports that YwD might need to succeed. • P&A advocacy can help states and counties save money and reduce overcrowding in facilities by diverting YwD from unnecessary placements to cost-effective community-based services and supports. In the JJ system, as in other child-serving systems, P&A advocacy has contributed to the downsizing and closure of facilities in favor of community-based ser
