Dawn Schott: A life’s passion

Dawn Schott Director of Juvenile Detention & Diversion Services Linn County You could say that Dawn Schott was destined for a career in juvenile justice. “I always had an interest working with kids,” she said, “and thought I wanted to be a probation officer in juvenile court.” As an undergraduate at Mount Mercy University, she landed an internship in the Sixth Judicial District’s juvenile court division. During that internship, a probation officer gave her a tour of the juvenile detention center. “The next day, the director called me and offered me a job,” Ms. Schott recalled. “So little did I know she was interviewing me as she was giving me a tour. I graduated on Sunday and started work for the detention center on Monday.” That first job was as a part-time, on-call youth counselor, allowing her to work at the Linn County youth shelter and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Iowa. After two years, she became a full-time youth counselor, then was promoted to a shift supervisor. She was named to her current post, as director of Linn County Juvenile Detention & Diversion Services, in February 2013, when the previous director retired. Juvenile justice has become more than a career for Ms. Schott — it’s now a passion. “I like to say I’m a lifer,” she said. As the director, Ms. Schott supervises the county’s juvenile justice staff and manages various community-based diversion programs, which serve an estimated 160 youth ages 12 to 18 daily. She’s also in charge of the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center, licensed for up to 35 beds. She stressed, however, that detention isn’t the preferred method to deal with juvenile justice issues. “We’ve got this detention center, and then I’ve developed diversion programs to keep kids out of detention, so it’s kind of these forces fighting against each other,” she said. “But what’s in the best interest of the kids in this community is to keep them in their homes and their schools.  “Even though I think we have the best detention center in the state, it’s still not a place I want to see kids,” she added. “I want them to be at home so they can still go to school. It’s so important that they’re in school. What my diversion programs do is help supervise kids in the community, help provide cognitive restructuring and connect them to resources available.” Ms. Schott speaks of her agency’s community-based diversion programs with pride. Among them: Link — a community-based program in which staffers conduct in-home assessments of youth and their families and, depending upon their needs, provide links to various community-based resources, such as food banks. Clients can then pursue those resources on their own. “It’s not about us doing it for them,” she said. “It’s about us empowering them to be able to take care of themselves and not need us.” ADI (Alternative Detention Initiative) — a traditional yet highly structured in-home detention program for clients requiring a higher level of supervision. Clients wear ankle monitors and are required to meet face-to-face with a staff member every 36 hours, but are still at home and can attend school. Any client violating the program’s terms will go to detention, but as Ms. Schott notes, “it’s an opportunity for them to be on their own, showing they can do what they need to do.” It’s also cost-effective, she noted — about $50 a day per client, versus an average of $550 per day in county detention. Solo — a day treatment program that works with youth generally considered at high risk of re-offending. Staff meets with clients up to four times a week in one-on-one sessions to enhance cognitive restructuring or re-framing, teaching clients to stop trusting in their automatic tendencies to accept the contents of their thoughts as being an accurate assessment of reality. “We make sure they’re going to school, meeting curfews, getting to therapy appointments and doctor’s appointments,” she said. LADDERS (Learning Alternative Daily Decisions to Ensure Reasonable Safety) — was created in Johnson County by Jan Liggett, who created Johnson County’s first juvenile diversion program more than 30 years ago. A community-based investigation determined that most juvenile charges in Johnson County were for disorderly conduct, a high percentage among Black females. Of those charged, however, an estimated 70% never faced another charge. Thus, the original charge is never officially filed if first-time offenders can complete the LADDERS protocols — including writing a victim impact statement letter, completing a mental health assessment, and writing an essay. “It’s about keeping those kids, those 70% that would never get another charge, out of the justice system,” she said. "Dawn has been an integral part of community meetings and conversations surrounding youth gun violence," Linn County supervisor Ben Rogers wrote in recommending Ms. Schott for the award. "Dawn's passion is to help children, juveniles and their families break away from cycles of violence and systemic inequalities. Dawn takes this upon herself because she fully understands that it takes a village to assist children and families in need and she is doing everything she can to be a resource to help children and families achieve greater levels of success." "Dawn is a formidable and determined advocate in the community and state of Iowa by serving on several community boards, advisory, and committees to assure all Linn County residents our kiddos are being cared for and helped through possibly a very difficult time in their life," wrote David Thielen, executive director of Linn County Community Services. "She is highly respected in the law enforcement, court and juvenile service fields. This past year, Dawn worked endless hours to address social concerns related to the pandemic and following the derecho of August 2020. Keeping staff and residents safe has been her number one priority." "Dawn is a compassionate leader who works diligently to support her team," added Emily Blomme, chief executive officer of Foundation 2 Crisis Services. "She has a clear understanding of the issues and challenges her teams manage as they support youth who are system involved and nearly always impacted by trauma. The work is challenging, the wins can be hard to find, yet Dawn leads her team forward to change the trajectory of the youth the JDDS programs serve ... Youth often go between her facility and our emergency shelter for youth. Her collaborative style, willingness to partner and desire to support youth in such need is impressive. Dawn has worked diligently to look at disparity in the system and how the JDDS facility can make changes and strive for equity and inclusion for its residents." Ms. Schott has also introduced several therapeutic programs for youth offenders, from yoga and therapy dogs to creating and maintaining a vegetable garden. It’s all part of her heartfelt commitment to ensuring clients’ success through the juvenile justice system and life. “These are kids,” she said. “They make mistakes; they make poor choices that aren’t based on experience. But someday, they’re going to be adults, they’re going to be in the community, and I just want them treated with dignity and respect. It may feel kind of dark right now, but they’ve got a long road ahead of them. And I want to make sure they see that there is a way out of the predicament.”