Letter: County website serves residents

Friday, July 30, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

I work in the Juvenile Records Department. I think this is a great idea.

A lot of people need our services: family, marriage, and juvenile drug and alcohol counseling; community service projects done by the juveniles to pay off their fines; Family Court, URESA Court (for child support and paternity testing), and Juvenile Court. We have Court by Peers, where juveniles are judged by their peers.

We have a new computer system, Family Tracs, which combines the juvenile's delinquency record and abuse and neglect record into one record.

This is good so that judges, probation officers, and child protective caseworkers can see the whole picture of the child and the family.

There have been problems with this system, but this is to be expected when undertaking such a big job with a new computer software program. These problems will work themselves out.

I do feel we could use more manpower in our department, the Probation Department and the Child Protective Service Department. With one of the fastest-growing cities and counties in the United States, we are swamped with work.

Our detention and Child Haven centers are being expanded to accommodate the additional children coming into our system. But we also need clerical staff to process the additional paperwork.

LOIS DENAUT