Saturday, March 25, 2006

This Week's News: 25 Mar 2006

Foster Care

Funding for foster children lauded
The Olympian, WA - Mar 24, 2006
... The group backed the Foster Youth Achievement Act, which the Legislature passed. It continues state programs for a limited number ...

Parents needed for kids in state custody
Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise, OK - Mar 23, 2006
... “It's so important that Oklahomans be aware of the needs of children in out-of-home placement,” said Kami Robinson, a former foster youth and principal ...

Help foster youth move to independence
Petoskey News-Review, MI - Mar 23, 2006...
No money? No food? This is the reality of Michigan's foster youth system. Once children turn 18-years-old, the state no longer pays for their foster care. ...


Education

Illinois revokes dropouts' drivers licenses
Daily Vidette, IL - Mar 23, 2006
New legislation could force Illinois' high school dropouts and chronically truant students to lose their driving privileges until they reach the age of 18 or decide to reenroll in school.

Strayhorn urges lawmakers to boost budget for teacher pay
Bizjournals.com, NC - Mar 21, 2006
... Strayhorn's report reveals that high school drop-outs in Texas chew up some $11.8 billion in social services, incarceration and welfare expenses. ...


Juvenile Justice

Juvenile boot camps about to be toned down
Miami Herald, FL - Mar 25, 2006
... The House committee overseeing the budget for the Department of Juvenile Justice approved the change in name, money and policy to make them clones of Martin ...

Wayne County juvenile system receives praise
Detroit Free Press, MI - Mar 25, 2006
Wayne County's juvenile justice system is efficient and has helped keep hundreds of delinquents out of further trouble, according to an independent review released Friday.

Bill would keep 17-year-olds in juvenile justice system
Boston Globe, United States - Mar 22, 2006
... say the change would improve the chance that young people will be rehabilitated by getting education and counseling through the juvenile justice system. ...

Department of Juvenile Justice holds youth summit
Suwannee Democrat, FL - Mar 22, 2006
Teens and community leaders linked arms in the fight against drugs, drinking, violence and other issues in a Juvenile Justice Prevention Summit in Live Oak ...

Juvenile justice forum speakers say mentoring could avert jail
Patriot-News, PA - Mar 22, 2006
A strong mentoring system could help reverse the disproportionate number of minorities in Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system, several speakers said ...

Sunday, March 19, 2006

This Week's News: 19 Mar 2006

Foster Care

Foster care reform requires flexibility
San Jose Mercury News, USA – Mar 19, 2006
... a normal childhood. As a result, it is not surprising that foster youth often experience difficulties as adults. More than a third ...

Alberty: Joining a national movement to improve child welfare
Indian Country Today, NY - Mar 17, 2006
Editors' note: The first installment of this series looked at the current, mainstream foster care system and some of the complications of making it work for ...

Additional News:
Child Welfare League of America Calls on White House to Reject ...
U.S. Newswire (press release)


Juvenile Justice

Juvenile tax needs study, education
Shreveport Times, LA - Mar 19, 2006
... and Youth Planning Board. The group is a new entity created by the Legislature to help oversee and coordinate juvenile services -- ranging from foster care to ...

Martin sheriff takes lawmakers to task on juvenile justice
Fort Pierce Tribune (subscription), FL - Mar 15, 2006
... Lawmakers, agency officials and governor office have failed to communicate, leaving needed juvenile justice programs to languish. ...


Education

High School Dropouts: The Silent Epidemic
Louisiana Weekly - Mar 20, 2006
If you listen carefully, you still can't hear it. It's the sound of a third of high school students dropping out before receiving their diploma. For people of color, the figure is almost 50 percent and that has profound implications not only for the students, but for the society that failed them.

Raising drop-out age puts cart before horse
Portsmouth Herald News, NH – Mar 19, 2006
... that about 15 percent of high school students in ... will happen is that teachers and school systems will ... proposing keeping those would-be drop-outs in traditional ...

States Look to Reduce Dropout Rates
Associated Press – Mar 19, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS - Stephan Howell got in a lot of fights in high school and was suspended so often he couldn't get credit for some of his classes. By his senior year, he was told he would have to stay an extra year and a half if he wanted to graduate.

Lynch wants kids in school until 18
Portsmouth Herald News, NH - Mar 17, 2006
... "Eighty percent of prison inmates are high school drop-outs," the governor noted, "and it costs about $27,000 a year to incarcerate a prisoner.". ...

Quilcene students succeed at Crossroads
Port Townsend Leader, WA - Mar 15, 2006
... class had been or were nearly drop-outs, some only ... The school is a win-win situation: The district ... Barton said she has high expectations for classroom behavior ...

Sunday, March 12, 2006

This Week's News: 12 Mar 2006

Foster Care

Foster youths aim to make a difference for others like them
Petoskey News-Review, MI - Mar 10, 2006
... obtained from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Michigan Department of Human Services is developing programs to help foster youth move toward ...

NO REFUGE Help the kids, follow the law
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - Mar 10, 2006
Many of the state's foster youth don't know that in 2001, AB705 was passed, requiring that siblings removed from their homes be placed together when appropriate ...

Foster Youth Writing Project
LA Youth – Mar 10, 2006
Once they enter the foster care system, they live with a relative, a foster family or in a group home, which usually houses older foster youth

'Accidents of geography'
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - Mar 8, 2006
... distribute quarterly reports on each county, the law shifted the state's focus on foster care from processes in the system to actual outcomes for foster youth. ...

Child welfare progress debated
Sacramento Bee, USA - Mar 8, 2006
... But even though the laws are now on the books, former foster youth and child advocates testified Tuesday that many have not yet been implemented. ...


Education

Dropout rates high, but fixes under way
CS Monitor – Mar 11, 2006
High school dropouts are getting more attention as studies show how alarming the problem is ... more than 450 racially diverse 16- to 24-year-olds in 25 different locations with high dropout rates ...

Senate to Vote on Public Charter School Bill
MaineToday.com, ME - Mar 10, 2006
... School and former president of the Maine Alternative Education Association, speaks from 32 years’ experience helping high school drop outs find success ...

Additional Education News
Dropouts return to school in Vista (North County Times) Mar 11
Counselors keep students on track to graduate (North County Times) Mar 12
County schools’ dropout rate rises (Sampson Independent) Mar 11


Juvenile Justice

Juvenile crime's sharp drop spurs search for causes
Akron, OH – Mar 12, 2006
WASHINGTON - A new generation of brutal and remorseless teens was about to savage the nation, leading authorities on juvenile crime warned a decade ago. Millions of Americans believed them. It never happened. Instead, Americans are experiencing the sharpest decline in teen crime in modern history.

Santa Fe student wins $1,000 from juvenile justice program
Gainesville Sun, FL - Mar 11, 2006
... For D'auna Poulos, an 18-year-old fresh off probation, help came from the Department of Juvenile Justice, the state agency devoted to preventing crime and ...

Debate rages on juvenile justice
Albany Times Union, NY - Mar 9, 2006
... The state-certified program teaches classroom management, gang recognition and gang intervention. Vera Institute of Justice. Using ...

Juvenile justice reform needs better blueprint
Baltimore Sun, United States - Mar 6, 2006
... But in juvenile justice reform, the opportunity for lasting change and a productive legacy isn't mainly about bricks and mortar. ...


Connected by 25 Spotlights

Portland Schools Foundation
Friday, Mar 10, 8:14 AM "Connected by 25" in the News
Connected by 25 is a partnership of service providers, policymakers, civic leaders, and young people who recognize that Portland needs a systemic approach to serving our city’s disconnected youth. For our young people, we believe we can do better.

YDRF
Thursday, Mar 9, 11:07 AM "Connected by 25" in the News
Jobs For the Future’s Connected By 25 80 eighth-inning as wise as it is directed at improving the options and outcomes for this large group of young people

Sunday, March 05, 2006

This Week's News: 05 Mar 2006

Foster Care

First Lady Mary Perdue Receives Award at Jim Casey Youth
Duluth Weekly, GA - Mar 2, 2006
... Initiative Awards Reception Dinner. Mrs. Perdue was honored for her work with Georgia's foster youth through the Our Children Campaign. ...

Bills aim to improve continuity, care for foster children
Centre Daily Times, PA - Mar 2, 2006
... helped shape the ideas in the reform package, including the California Youth Connection, which advocates for current and former foster youth, the National ...

Breakthrough in foster care
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - Mar 1, 2006
... Under the Kin-GAP program, relatives who gain permanent guardianship of foster youth are given a stipend, but not a clothing allowance or additional funds for ...


Education

Dropout rates high, but fixes under way
Mar 6, 2006
Now, a new survey, released Thursday, suggests that the problem, while deep, can be fixed. Most students don't drop out because they can't do the work. Nearly 90 percent had passing grades when they ...

Construction Company Helps High School Drop Outs
WDEF, TN - Mar 3, 2006 By Lauren Remillard
And a local builder reaches out to teens and young adults who've dropped out of school. Adamson builders invited ...

MCBOE offers second chance
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV - Mar 3, 2006
... never comes along. But Tuesday at the Mercer County Board of Education meeting, a second chance was given to high school drop-outs. ...


Juvenile Justice

Tough love puts teens on road to reform
The News Journal, DE – Mar 6, 2006
... The group got a $100,000 grant from the philanthropic Jessie Ball duPont Fund to pay for a study of Delaware's juvenile justice system by the National Council ...

Courts quicker to address juvenile mental illness
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN – Mar 6, 2006
... Pratt, chairman of the Indiana Juvenile Justice Improvement Committee, said mental health has been a rising issue for juvenile court officials across the state ...

Youth justice reforms proposed
San Jose Mercury News, USA - Mar 4, 2006
... system -- including judges, probation officers, police and prisoner advocates -- to hear proposals for reforming the state's troubled juvenile justice system. ...

Juvenile justice fix sought; System 'failing,' Cabinet secretary
Newszap Delaware, DE - Mar 2, 2006
DOVER - Delaware needs to embark on an ambitious plan to reform its juvenile justice system, the head of the state's children's department told legislators ...

Justice official touts successes of juvenile program
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL - Mar 1, 2006
... Casey, now deputy secretary for the state Department of Juvenile Justice, said the hard work then begins to "undo the damage that has been done.". ...