Every year, the holiday season comes at the same time and every year I wonder how can it possibly have come already? What a whirlwind of a year it has been for JJAM and our 82 counties serving the juvenile probation youth and families across our great state. We have embraced Juvenile Justice reform acronyms such as MAYSI-2, MJJAS, and YLS, assisted SCAO with gathering data for their weighted workload study, and have collaborated with MAFCA, MJDA, and NMJOA to host an epic Joint Juvenile Justice Conference this past September. We were honored to have Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement as our keynote speaker and appreciate her dedication to making our state a leader in this field.
JJAM provides two educational training conferences each year with excellent speakers and topics. Our Midwinter Conference will be held March 20-21, 2025, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel-Riverfront in Bay City, MI. Author and TV Personality, Phil Chalmers will be presenting on his topic of “Profiling Teen Killers, School Shooters, Mass Murderes and Serial Killers.” Dr. Alyse Folino-Ley and her team from the MSU Department of Psychiatry and Prevent 2 Protect will present on their Adolescent Targeted Violence Prevention Program.
In addition to our conferences, JJAM also presents two awards annually. These awards come from nominations made by you, our membership. At the Midwinter Conference, the Association presents the Youth Achievement Award to an individual who was part of the Juvenile Justice System and has turned their life around through the assistance of court work and found success as an adult. During the Annual Conference, the Mary S. Coleman Award acknowledges a fellow court worker who has contributed to their Court and community.
Membership to JJAM is open to all personnel of the Family Division of Circuit Courts. Associate Membership and Associate Child-Caring Agency Membership is open to all agencies and persons actively engaged in enhancing the children and/or family welfare programs. Please continue to support JJAM by filling out our membership application (below). For additional conference registration information and nominations, check out our website.
Sincerely,
Jeffery A. Damore
President of JJAM
