Programs - Challenge Outreach for Youth

Challenge Outreach for Youth (COFY) is one of several Intensive Supervision models operated by the Tidewater Youth Services Commission. It serves as a pre-dispositional alternative to secure detention or a crisis shelter and works to ensure a youth’s appearance in court with no new charges. The program allows the youth to remain at home without disruption to education or family connection. This is accomplished with a high level of accountability and with public safety always at the forefront.

The Commission’s Intensive Supervision models features electronic monitoring, drug testing, using laboratory confirmed urine drug screens, curfew monitoring, 24-hour/day counselor availability for crisis intervention, and face to face client contacts at a minimum of three to four times per week in the home and the community. These measures provide the counselor with reliable information on parental supervision and provide support to the family, ensuring the youth's accountability and compliance with the expectations of the Court and the Intensive Supervision Program.

Individual and family support is a core component of Intensive Supervision. At the onset of services, the counselor works to stabilize the family, empower the parents, and establish higher levels of structure and supervision in the family. Connecting families with needed resources is critical, both while the youth is in the program and especially after the youth is no longer receiving services.

Program Objectives:

To provide intensive supervision to ensure youth accountability.
To assure the youth’s availability for court.
To prevent new criminal charges while in the program.
To prevent out of home placement and strengthen individual and family protective factors.
To assure that only those youth presenting a threat to themselves or others are kept in secure confinement.
To utilize community resources to enable families to manage their own lives without further involvement from the court.
To prevent further delinquency through a system of program incentives and progressive consequences.

Equipment used for Intensive Supervision:

Electronic Monitor
Electronic Monitor – Cellular Unit
Global Positioning Satellite Tracker

Referrals for Intensive Supervision are accepted from the Juvenile Court Services units in all areas served by the Tidewater Youth Services Commission and are typically made via telephone call from the Probation Officer/Court. For more information contact Loretta A. Goodman, Program Director, at 757-488-9610 or lgoodman@tyscommission.org.