The State of Arkansas is divided into 28 juvenile judicial districts, all of which serve juveniles through diagnosis and evaluation, casework management, residential treatment programs, transitional living services, emergency shelter, therapy services, and aftercare programs. In addition, Arkansas also has a community-based network of 13 nonprofit organizations that bring services and programs to juveniles throughout the state, including at-risk youth, juvenile offenders, or delinquents.
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Individuals interested in pursuing juvenile probation officer careers in Arkansas must be able to meet the minimum requirements for employment, which include a high school diploma.
How to Become a Juvenile Probation Officer in Arkansas through Training
Upon being hired, all those looking at how to become juvenile probation officers in Arkansas juvenile must attend a four-week program that is administered by the Administrative Office of the Courts to become certified. This training program must be completed within one year of employment. Further, all probation officers in Arkansas must attend mandatory training, through a skill test, to become recertified.
Arkansas’ Juvenile Services
Because Arkansas is considered a decentralized state, probation and parole services for juveniles are organized separately. For example, county governments, through local circuit courts, juvenile division, fund juvenile probation services, while the Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Services, provides aftercare services and provides delinquency institutions.
All local circuit courts typically have at least one juvenile intake officer and one juvenile probation officer. Juvenile probation officers may work for the county or through a contract service.