Navigating Barriers to Special Education in a Juvenile Detention Center

Overview & Synopsis

Youth with special education-related disabilities are drastically overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. However, the education services needed to support these students are often inadequate in detention and correctional facilities. Issues pertaining to communication between agencies, access to student records, and collaboration among staff are just some of the factors that can prohibit sufficient special education programming in schools embedded in the juvenile justice system. This case study examined how staff at one juvenile detention center addressed such impediments to special education by developing and maintaining relationships in attempts to preserve the education rights of adjudicated youth with disabilities. Through creative problem-solving tactics, the special education team overcame barriers that would have otherwise restricted residents' access to special education. Implications for practice are explored based on how issues were handled as well as why certain barriers continued to present themselves and how they could have been ameliorated.