The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) is a state agency of Arkansas, headquartered in Donaghey Plaza South of the Donaghey Complex, a five story building on the southwest corner of Main Street and 7th Street, in Little Rock.The state agency is in charge of maintaining social services for Arkansas by providing assistance to families and monitoring/inspecting health facilities.
Division of Youth Services
The Division of Youth Services (DYS) provides services to families and children.
DYS operates correctional facilities for juveniles. The Arkansas Juvenile Assessment & Treatment Center (AJATC), located in Bryant in Saline County, near Alexander, is the primary intake and assessment center for juveniles. Originally established as the Girls Industrial School by Act 199 in 1905, the center houses boys and girls. In the late 1970s the center began to house boys, and the center received a fence in 1998. In 2007 Act 855 renamed the facility to its current name. The Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility, located in Dermott in Chicot County, houses up to 32 men of the ages 18–21. There is also the Colt Juvenile Treatment Center in St. Francis County, Harrisburg Juvenile Treatment Center in Poinsett County, and the Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center and Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center for Girls on a 236-acre (96 ha) property near the Poteau Mountains.
Previous facilities of the State of Arkansas that housed juveniles include the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, the Arkansas Boys Industrial School near Pine Bluff, and state industrial schools for white girls and black girls. On January 9, 1957 Orvel M. Johnson, the state legislative auditor, recommended consolidating the white and black girls' schools together and locating the new institution, which would still be racially segregated, on the site of the then-current boys school.