The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.: “Every time Grand Traverse Family Court adds a new case, Court Administrator Kristyn Brendel said she gets a sinking feeling in her gut — especially if juveniles are involved who need to be placed in a detention facility.
Two simple questions need to be answered immediately, Brendel said: Where will they go? And when?
But in Michigan, particularly in the northern Lower Peninsula, the answers to those simple questions aren’t so simple. That’s because there aren’t enough places to accommodate the number of kids coming in to the juvenile justice system.
These young people are being sent to a mental health treatment facility or a detention center because they are deemed a danger to themselves or their community, she said. The primary goal is to rehabilitate them and keep them close to their community, parents and friends.”
