TJJD News & Announcements

Parole Officer Van Foster was the August 2017 recipient of the TJJD Employee Excellence Award. Van began his employment with the agency in September of 1995 as a Program Administrator and is currently a Parole Officer III. Executive Director David Reilly said, “We want to publicly thank Van for his commitment, dedication, initiative, and excellence to the agency. We encourage all of you to express your appreciation to him, as well.” What enticed you to become a Parole Officer? I knew becoming a parole officer would allow me to be involved in shaping the lives of children and families in their communities of origin. What drives you to do a good job? I want all children to know that there are people in this world that really have their best interest at heart. I want the youth I serve to be successfully reintegrated into their families and communities so that the children have opportunities to create a new path. If I tie youth and families to community resources, opportunities for...

What enticed you to become a Probation Chief? My aspiration growing up was to be a private investigator, a lawyer, a stockbroker, or a therapist. I have always had the desire to help others. After being a volunteer Big Brother and then an intern at Michigan State University with the Ingham County Juvenile Probation Department, I realized that I wanted to spend my career working with troubled youth. What drives you to do a good job? Knowing that we as an agency and we as a profession have the obligation to do the best we can at creating opportunity for youth to be successful while also taking into consideration the protection of the community. The youth and family “needs” change and we have to position ourselves to be flexible enough to meet their changing needs. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen during your career? I have seen many changes in my 34 years of employment at the Juvenile Probation Department from advances in technology to changes in philosophical ap...

What led you to your career in juvenile justice? I would say God did. As a child I was raised in a very dysfunctional family. My siblings and I were involved at one point the Child Welfare Department, leading to us being placed in a children’s home in Arkansas for a period of time. Eventually my mother was able to get her life together to get us all back, but there was still continued dysfunction. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a social worker to help children. However, I did not go that direction. Instead, I enlisted in the U. S. Army for several years and came home, married, and had a family. It was not until my youngest daughter was in high school, and I was working at Wharton County Junior College that I started going to college on the Hazelwood Act, which was available to people who have served in the military and entered and exited the military with Texas as its home of record. It was with this grant paying for my tuition that I was able to work towards a degree....