Washington County Attorney’s Office—2018 Annual Report 14 Juvenile Division “We promote communication, teamwork and training with law enforcement and social workers to protect children. ” The juvenile division, led by division chief Tony Zdroik prosecutes all juvenile delinquency cases filed in Washington County Court. The juvenile division seeks to promote public safety through the prosecution of juvenile crimes while taking into consideration the special circumstances of juvenile offenders. The juvenile division also provides legal representation to Washington County Community Services on child protection matters that involve Washington County children who have been abused or neglected by a parent or legal custodian. Additionally, one juvenile division attorney is assigned to the truancy program. That attorney, by working regularly with Community Services and schools, handles all truancy matters in Washington County with the goal of offering help to those families to avoid court intervention. The juvenile division received 159 child protection referrals in 2018 which continues the above average trend of referrals we received from 2011 to 2015 which was 82 referrals. The number of Termination of Parental Rights petitions (24) and other permanency petitions (15) filed in 2018 was the most this office has filed in one year. Similarly that increase also lead to the filing of the most adoption petitions this office has filed in one year (17). That number of adoption petitions is twice the typical number this office would file in one year. This increase in the numbers of child protection cases is significant because these cases often continue for years requiring a great amount of attorney and support staff time. The number of juvenile prosecution referrals declined for prosecution hit an all-time low in 2018 with just 52 cases declined. From 2013-2017 the average number of juvenile referrals declined for prosecution was 75 cases. By comparison, in the previous 5 years (2008-2012) that number averaged 183 cases per year. The low rate of declinations is likely related to the extensive amount of law enforcement training this office has done over the years as well as increased communication with officers during the investigative process. Juvenile Division Chief Tony Zdroik