Department of Court Services

Winnebago County Juvenile Probation

Taryn Marko, Deputy Director

Winnebago County Juvenile Probation provides services and supervision for youth arrested for delinquent behavior. Our mission is to provide for a safer community, to help reduce juvenile delinquency, and to promote quality services to all youth, victims, and families. Winnebago County Juvenile Probation employs a Deputy Director, four Supervisors, sixteen full-time Probation Officers, and two support staff. Juvenile Probation consists of both an Intake Unit and a Field Unit.

• The Intake Unit utilizes early intervention strategies that include substantive probation adjustments and informal supervision to address issues and divert certain youth from the Juvenile Justice System while holding the youth accountable for their behavior. In 2025, there were approximately * probation adjustments as well as * minors who were placed on informal supervision.
• The Field Unit provides supervision and case management to minors assigned to probation. A probation term may involve treatment referrals and counseling, various internal and community-based programming, public service work, restitution, detention time, foster care, or residential placement with the goal of rehabilitating juvenile offenders. At the end of 2025, there were * active juvenile probation cases with an average caseload of * minors per Probation Officer. The Department has several specialized Probation Officers, including a School-Based Officer and two officers assigned to the Juvenile Redeploy Program.

o School-Based Officers provide on-site prevention and intervention services to area high schools.

Juvenile Redeploy Probation Officers work with moderate to high-risk youth, both pre-adjudication and post-adjudication, alongside a team from Youth Services Network to provide wrap-around services for the youth and their family. With Redeploy, juveniles receive support from a case manager, therapist, & family engagement specialist in addition to the Probation Officer. This program assists the youth to address their risk areas with the goal to surround the youth with community support.

The Juvenile Intervention Center (JRIC) is located inside the Juvenile Probation Department. It opened late fall of 2023 and is an on-site therapeutic center for youth on probation or court supervision. Similar to the Resource Intervention Center for our adult population, the JRIC consists of a therapist who provides individual therapy and group curriculums ranging from topics such as grief and trauma to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Programs offered through the JRIC target the identified areas of risk and needs that Probation Officers determine through risk assessments and comprehensive assessments from clinicians. The Juvenile Assessment Center is overseen by Juvenile Probation. It is a central reception center for police agencies to bring youth who have been arrested for violating the law or taken into custody for non-criminal reasons, i.e. running away. Probation Officers at this location utilize a screening instrument that determines if the arrested minors should be detained or released back to their guardian, and also conduct assessments to recommend whether the minors should be referred to court or if the cases should be handled informally with no further court action. Illinois Crisis Intervention Services (ICIS) advocates work with the non-arrest cases that require specific family services. Probation Officers from the Juvenile Assessment Center connects youth and their families to community services in effort to decrease future arrests.

The Juvenile Assessment Center is overseen by Juvenile Probation. It is a central reception center for police agencies to bring youth who have been arrested for violating the law or taken into custody for non-criminal reasons, i.e. running away. Probation Officers at this location utilize a screening instrument that determines if the arrested minors should be detained or released back to their guardian, and also conduct assessments to recommend whether the minors should be referred to court or if the cases should be handled informally with no further court action. Illinois Crisis Intervention Services (ICIS) advocates work with the non-arrest cases that require specific family services. Probation Officers from the Juvenile Assessment Center connects youth and their families to community services in effort to decrease future arrests.

17th circuit. illinoiscourts.gov