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    • Seneca County Youth Center

    3484 S. Twp. Rd. 151
    Tiffin, OH 44883
    419-447-7852
    419-448-5061

    Facility Description

    The Seneca County Youth Center is a division of the Seneca County Juvenile Court. The Seneca County Youth Center is a 25 bed detention facility. The building was originally built in the mid 1950’s as a foster care facility and was converted in the 1970’s as a detention facility. The Seneca County Youth Center is one of the oldest detention facilities in Ohio.

    The Seneca County Youth Center houses both male and female juveniles, who have committed or have been convicted of a delinquent act or status offense. Once admitted, a resident’s length of stay can range from 24 hours up to 90 days. A juvenile who is on probation will typically serve what is called pre-authorized time. Meaning, the court establishes a set amount of time a juvenile will serve if he or she violates the terms of probation. The Seneca County Youth Center houses juveniles up to the age of eighteen. Generally, the average age range is between 14 and 17. The Seneca County Youth Center also accepts juveniles from Crawford County and Huron County on a daily per diem rate.

    Programming

    The Seneca County Youth Center uses a rewards/consequences point based behavior modification program. At the beginning of each day, residents are given 5 points to keep or lose based on his/her ability to be compliant with the facility’s rules. A loss of 5 points in a day can result in an extra day added onto a juvenile’s stay and he/she will lose all earned privileges for the day.

    All residents attend school during their detainment at the Seneca County Youth Center. We have two full-time teachers and one teacher’s aide to assist the residents with his/her academic needs. The residents work on and receive credit for schoolwork provided to them by his/her home school.

    Residents have the opportunity to participate in mental health services during his/her time spent at the Seneca County Youth Center. Some of the programming provided to the residents consists of substance abuse groups, thinking errors, life skills, Alateen, Teen Alcoholic Anonymous, self-esteem groups, reading groups, and religious service provided by local church groups. The residents have the option to attend all programming that is made available to them.

    Mail and Letter Writing

    Residents are permitted to write two letters a week to their legal guardians, grandparents, minister/clergy, attorney, probation officer, or judge. Parents are permitted to bring in additional stamps and envelopes so your child can write as many letters as he/she desires. Residents can receive mail from his/her legal guardians, grandparents, minister/clergy, attorney, probation officer, or Judge. There is no limit to how much mail a resident can receive.

    Visitation

    The Seneca County Youth Center offers four days where parents can visit their child for a half hour period. Due to limited space parents can only choose one of the four days to visit with their child. Parents who are divorced or separated can have separate times to visit with his/her child.  The Seneca County Youth Center does not allow vistors under the age of 18.  Provisions in the visitation schedule will be made to accommodate a parent who can not attend regularly scheduled time due to work, illness, or other reasonable requests made. Below are the scheduled visitation times:

    Monday 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm
    Tuesday 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm
    Saturday 10:00 am – 10:30 am
    1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
    Sunday 10:00 am – 10:30am
    1:30 pm – 2:00 pm

    Appointments

    Youth Center staff will transport your child to his/her appointments. Your child may only attend individual counseling appointments during his/her detainment period. Youth Center Staff will transport your child for emergency only medical/dental/eye care appointments. The Nurses from the Seneca County General Health District will determine whether or not your child is in need of immediate care. The Youth Center will contact and notify you of the emergency. All efforts will be made to set the appointment around a time that is convenient for you. However, your child may need to be seen sooner depending upon the emergency. Your child will not be permitted to attend any maintenance related appointment during his/her time at the Youth Center. For example, yearly check-up appointments at the dentists, eye doctor, etc. To schedule any appointment/transports you will need to call Monday thru Friday between the hours of 7 :00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. to speak with the operations manager.  Excluding emergency transports, a minimum of 48 hours notice is necessary.  Please understand that transports are granted based on staffing and availability.  It may be necessary to reschedule appointments.

    As a part of the Youth Center’s policy staff will be transporting your child to his/her appointments in handcuffs and shackles. This is to ensure the safety of the transport officer, community, and child being transported.

    The Intern/Volunteer Program

    The Seneca County Youth Center invites and encourages college students from the community to gain experience in working with at-risk youth. We accept criminal justice, education, forensic psychology, and psychology majors, or any other interested students. Interns and volunteers are supervised by Youth Center staff and work under the direction of the Program Manager. Anyone interested in being an intern must successfully pass a BCI background screen. Anyone interested in becoming an intern should call Ben Yourkvitch at 419-447-7852 ext. 11.

    **Ohio Revised Code 4705.01 prohibits the Probate and Juvenile Court from giving legal advice or from helping you prepare legal papers in a new or pending case in this or any court.