Juvenile Justice Assignment Unit is a unit within the Bureau of Juvenile Justice located in the BJJ Training Center in Whitmore Lake, MI. When juvenile justice specialists (JJS) in the county offices have a delinquent youth, whether an Act 150 or temporary court ward, requiring residential placement for treatment, they compile the necessary information and send it to the JJAU. That information is reviewed by a JJAU analyst and entered into the BJJ Information System. Through a process of matching the age, gender, security level and treatment needs identified in the youth's strength and needs document, the programs best suited to address those treatment needs having a current vacancy are identified by the information system. Factors not involved in the calculation are taken into consideration by the JJAU analyst.

The selected program and the juvenile justice specialist are notified of the placement request. The program should respond within 5 days of receiving the notice. Program representatives are encouraged to contact the JJAU analyst and/or the JJS for additional information if needed to make the decision. They are able to notify JJAU electronically as to their decision regarding their decision. If accepted, the rest of the information that JJAU has about the youth is sent to the program while they arrange for intake. If the placement is refused, the process is repeated until a program is identified.

Private contracted juvenile justice programs are reviewed first, followed by public juvenile justice programs. Then non-contracted juvenile justice and abuse/neglect (not rated for security level) programs are considered. If there is no program available in the state, or if geographic conditions dictate, out of state programs may be considered. Only programs approved by the Office of Children and Adult Licensing (OCAL) may be used.

All placements are to be facilitated by JJAU. If a youth requires replacement, either a transfer, escalation or de-escalation, it is processed through JJAU. Even if the placement is ordered by the court, JJAU is the mechanism for collecting the intake information and transferring it to the program prior to actual placement.

Youths in foster care who are being placed because of an adjudication should also be placed through JJAU.

The recommendation of the juvenile justice specialist is considered as much as possible within the limits of the policy and legislation governing the unit. Appeals regarding the recommendation of JJAU for particular placements should be made to the director of BJJ and copied to JJAU by the director of the county with information to support the appeal.

Our goal is to find and facilitate the best possible placement in the shortest amount of time. Youth assigned to a placement where there is a vacancy are expected to be admitted within 10 days of acceptance. If there is not a current vacancy, the program may have up to 30 days to make the placement with the agreement of the juvenile justice specialist.