Margaret J. Kemp Camp

MISSION STATEMENT

We believe our adolescent girls are valuable and worthy of our communities’ support.  We provide sustainable resources and programs that promote the process of healing, educating, and empowering each girl to achieve her greatest potential in her community.

OVERVIEW

In response to a growing need for female gender-responsive services in the late 1990s, in 2001 the Probation Department launched the GIRLS program (Gaining Independence and Reclaiming Lives Successfully).  The program involves three stages: an individualized, 180-day residential program and two community-based supervision phases.

Probation and community-based organizations provide multiple gender-responsive services through all three stages according to a girl’s individual service plan.   The GIRLS program was modeled on successful evidence-based programs and best practices in reducing recidivism and increasing positive outcomes for girls.  In particular, staff at Camp Kemp embrace the National Institute of Corrections guiding principles for women's corrections programs:

• To create an environment based on safety, respect, and dignity
• To develop policies, practices, and programs that are relational and promote healthy connections to children, family, significant others, and the community;
• To address substance abuse, trauma, and mental health issues through comprehensive, integrated, and culturally-relevant services.

In December 2006, the residential phase of the program transitioned from Hillcrest Juvenile Hall to the new Margaret J. Kemp Camp 30-bed facility.  The new setting allows girls to experience a calm, campus-like environment conducive to treatment and developing positive behaviors.  The average daily population in 2009 was 21.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

When a girl has committed one or more criminal offenses, a judge can order her to a 180-day stay at Camp Kemp.  The girls at the Camp have backgrounds that include one or more of the following characteristics:

• Recidivism and re-arrest
• Repeated probation violations
• Multiple runaways from home or placements
• Substance abuse
• Victimization (child abuse or neglect, domestic violence in the home or in a relationship, trauma)
• Chronic truancy
• Emotional issues or mental health diagnoses
• Negative peer relationships or gang affiliation
• Anti-social behavior

PROGRAMMING

Camp Kemp offers a number of special services and programs:

• The Art of Yoga (yoga practice and art projects, four times per week)
• Girls Circle (a relationship-based communication model that includes group sharing and problem-solving)
• Alcoholics Anonymous (on site)
• Mentoring
• Play writing (conducted by community-based provider Each One Reach One )
• Field trips
• Book club
  
• Knitting

A girl’s experience at Camp Kemp is structured around the Journeys program. When they arrive at Camp, girls are given a multi-colored workbook to help them track their progress and to serve as a personal record of their achievements. The Passport is designed to organize a girl’s development through goal-setting and to allow staff to give tangible reinforcement of positive and pro-social behavior. To learn more about the Journeys program, please read the program description.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES

Behavioral Health programming includes:

• Comprehensive assessment and case planning
• Multi-Family Group, a 16-week Saturday program that engages parents, caregivers, and girls in improving their relationships
• Group therapy
• Individual counseling
• Family therapy

A girl can receive counseling and therapy on a number of issues, depending on her needs as identified in her case plan:

• Anger management
• Impulse control
• Communication skills
• Healthy relationships
• Body image and self-care strategies
• Nutrition and healthy eating
• Employment
• Safe sex and HIV
• Grief and loss
• Domestic violence and teen dating
• Transition to the community

PARTNER AGENCIES

Other County agencies collaborate with the Probation Department to provide education, food and health services at the Camp.   Mental health services are offered through a partnership of the County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Division, Youth and Family Enrichment Services, and Rape Trauma Services.

If you have questions about a court case, contact the San Mateo County Courts.
If you want to know which Probation Officer is assigned to your case, call (650) 312-8807.