Madison County Juvenile Court shares expansion plans

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Madison County Juvenile Court System has big plans for an expansion of the Juvenile Detention Center, including a mental health program.

The goal is to create a central hub for the court system.

That means a new detention center with an increase in rooms, a mental health facility, and the courthouse located in one place.

Juvenile Court Judge Christy Little says the idea is to help families have all the resources they need to help their child in one place.

“We want to model that after a mental health court as we do a safe baby court, where we have all the players at the table so that we can get with that family and say what do you need,” Little said.

The mental health program being included in the new expansion is something Little says is vital to helping children in her courtroom.

Little says 99% of the children she transferred had a mental illness of some kind. And now she wants to change that with this program.

“Either went untreated, wasn’t being treated at the time, or we never knew existed and to me that is where we lack in intervention,” Little said.

And Little says that if she can give these resources to families in the community that are in need, she believes she can keep more juveniles out of the courtroom entirely.

“Working to help find that missing piece so that children ages four to 14 will be able to have mental health services provided to them, so that they can avoid any contact with any court system,” Little said.

Little says the Madison County Juvenile Court System will present the expansion plan to several West Tennessee elected officials on June 11.