Sunday, April 29, 2007

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Money for minds: Some of Omaha’s richest support initiative to help poor kids succeed
Omaha World –Herald – April 22, 2007
Every year in the Omaha area, hundreds of kids – mostly the poorest – drop out of school into lives of dead-end jobs, financial struggle and worse. A group of people known for accomplishing major projects in Omaha has launched what national experts say is the most sweeping effort any community has ever tried to help children growing up in poverty achieve school success. The vision of Building Bright Futures: to knock down, one by one, every barrier that stands in the way of all kids making the grade, with an ultimate promise that all poor children in Douglas and Sarpy Counties who earn diplomas will have the money the need for college or technical school.

Many still struggling to graduate
Miami Herald – April 22, 2007
Educators have ignored community college graduation rates for years, citing such hurdles as shoddy preparation and poor language skills of incoming students. But a growing number of college presidents are starting to recognize mediocre graduation rates are a problem they must tackle. The deepest problems are rooted in high school and earlier. Four of every five students at Miami Dade College and Broward Community College need remedial classes before they can begin college work –costing taxpayers $35 million annually. MDC and BCC students who enroll ready for college are nearly three times more likely to get a degree than those who need remediation.

Attacking the gap
The Baltimore Sun – April 23, 2007
If an identifiable group of students is having a hard time keeping up in school, is it fair to single those kids out for special help? It’s a dilemma that many school systems, including some in Maryland, are facing when it comes to African-American boys, who are often on the low end of the achievement gap. In Ossining, NY, the school district is using mentoring and other targeted interventions that have also been recommended by a Maryland task force on young black males. The district which consists of about 4,200 students in six schools, implemented a plan to help young African-American male in 2005. It includes helping families better prepare young children before they enter prekindergarten; providing mentors, using school personnel, for first-grade students and up; raising expectation with middle school students and their families that college is part of their future; and encouraging more high school students to take college preparatory courses. Participation in these activities by students and their families is voluntary and is not limited by race or academic performance level.

Juvenile Justice

Panel debates where to try teens
Burlington Times-News – April 24, 2007
Raleigh- A state House committee on Tuesday began reviewing a proposal that, if approved, would change the way North Carolina handles most 16-and 17-year-olds who are accused of crimes. Members of the House Juvenile Justice Committee had varied reactions, with some offering their support while others expressed concerns. “It’s a hugely expensive issue up front,” Bordsen said, adding that she believes that the state would save money in the long run by helping those juvenile offenders become more productive members of society.

Fresno Co. teens free their minds in juvenile hall
The Fresno Bee – April 22, 2007
The one-hour poetry class allows these teens to confront some of the problems that landed them inside the substance abuse unit of Fresno County’s Juvenile Justice Campus. The class is one of several new programs to rehabilitate the juvenile hall’s troubled youths, and marks yet another milestone for a juvenile justice system once derided as shamefully inadequate. The goal of the new programs is to go beyond incarceration to help youths think about ways to succeed once they return to the community. Officials decided to bring the programs to the juvenile hall after researching what worked at similar institutions throughout the United States. The activities have proved to reduce behavior problems and improve self-esteem, Lowe said.

Foster Care

Foster care laws examined
Detroit Free Press – April 22, 2007
The legislation named after the then-Lt. Gov. Connie Binsfeld and approved without a single no vote—made it easier for judges to terminate the rights of abusive or neglectful parents so their kids could have a better chance of being adopted. The bills were signed into law in December 1997. While adoption rates have risen since then lawmakers are learning about the unintended consequences of the stricter laws. The number of so-called orphans—children who have no parents and little hope of ever being adopted—also rising. While the state Department of Human Services and private agencies markedly increased adoptions, they have been unable to keep up with the influx of children considered unadoptable because of age, behavior or medical problems or who are part of large sibling groups. Studies of the nation’s foster care systems have concluded that these children are more likely to drop out of school, be unemployed and commit crimes.

Who speaks for the kids in dependency court?
Seattle Times – April 25, 2007
When Washington children are removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, their parents are represented by a lawyer in dependency court. The state has a lawyer at the table, too. The kids, however, don’t have that automatic right to counsel. In fact, at least one-third of Washington children who are removed from their homes don’t have anyone at all to speak for them in court, according to a statewide work group studying the issue. A study released Tuesday by First Star, examined law in all 50 states and found that Washington is one of 16 states in which the law doesn’t require that kids in dependency cases get their own lawyers. Studies have indicated that cases take longer when the child goes unrepresented and often that children’s needs-such as visiting siblings – go unmet if they’re not represented.

Foster care focus shifts to family
Lexington Herald-Leader – April 25, 2007
Kentucky officials are changing child protection practices in response to widespread criticism of foster care adoptions, and Chief Justice Joseph Lambert is calling for improvements to the state’s child welfare courts. Under the new child protection practices, social workers will be directed to try harder to place children with extended family members before they turn to non-relative foster parents. Birth fathers and paternal relatives would particularly benefit from this change. Birth parents whose children are placed in foster care also will be told in clear terms by social workers and in writing that they stand to lose their children to adoption.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Bill would assure college aid funds
The Oklahoman – April 17, 2007
Money for a state-sponsored scholarship program for low-income Oklahoma students will be guaranteed each year if legislation passed out of a House committee Monday becomes law. Lawmakers have been seeking a dedicated funding source for years for the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, which offers college scholarships to Oklahoma teens who meet certain income limitation, make good high school grades and stay out of trouble.

Urban League report a concern for whole community
The Repository - April 19, 2007
The National Urban League’s new report, “The State of Black America 2007, Portrait of the Black Male,” paints an ominous picture. Releaseed this week, the report suggests that black men and boys are endangered in nearly every aspect of like, specifically education, employment and incarceration. Jenkins said the Canton branch is formulating a Youth Empowerment program, which will assist the unemployed, dropouts and ex-offenders with education assistance and job training and real-world experience. “We want to step beyond employment,” he said. “We want to help young people focus on career attainment, to find mentors to help them. We want to work with educational institutions to make sure kids are taking the right classes. We want to expose them to the variety of careers available. We want to tap into a more comprehensive program and approach.”

At-risk students are building the future
Fay Observer – April 19, 2007
On Wednesday, nine at-risk high school students built two playhouses that will be sold in the Habitat Moore Store on N.C. 5 to benefit the charity. The students took on the project as part of the 19th annual National and Global Youth Services Day, an event meant to spur volunteerism in young people. The project gave many of the teenagers a chance to experience something they might not have otherwise—building something with their own hands. The students are members of Building Futures of Moore County Schools, a program designed to help young people who might have trouble finding jobs because they are homeless, have a criminal record, dropped out of school or have other problems. Usually the students divide their day between classroom and job shadowing or working at internships.

Juvenile Justice

Bill Addresses Crisis of Abuse Against LGBT Youth in Calif. Justice System
365Gay.com – April 21, 2007
Youth in California’s juvenile justice system who are mistreated and harassed because they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender would be assured new protections in a new bill introduced in the California Senate. The Juvenile Justice Safety and Protections Act, authored by Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), would create a Youth Bill of Rights for young people residing in state and county juvenile justice facilities. If requires that youth be informed of the services available to them for addressing discrimination, harassment or other rights violations. The legislation also would enact a comprehensive nondiscrimination policy in juvenile justice settings prohibiting bias based on actual or perceived race, ethnic group identification, ancestry, national origin, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental or physical disability or HIV status.

Violent Justice: Adult system fails young offenders
Science News – April 21, 2007
State laws that send some individuals under age 18 to trial and prison as adults have achieved the opposite of what the policy’s proponents intended, a new research review concludes. Transferring young people into adult systems yields substantially higher rates of later serious crimes compared with youths handled by juvenile justice system. Moreover, there’s no evidence that shifting some young offenders to the adult justice system prevents or reduces violence in the general population of children and teenagers. These findings come from the 14-member Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent group funded by federal and private sources. It’s reviewing the effectiveness of various efforts to lessen violence committed by and against youths.

Foster Care

Sibling visitation bill is signed
Des Moines Register – April 17, 2007
Iowa now has a law that gives children in foster care the right to visit their siblings. Gov. Chet Culver signed the bill Monday. The legislation, Senate File 480, requires the state’s Department of Human Services to make ‘a reasonable effort” to provide siblings visitation with each other if there’s no choice but to send them to separate foster homes.

Opening doors to college could aid ex-foster youths
Battle Creek Enquirer – April 21, 2007
But what about those children in foster care who want to continue their education beyond high school? What opportunities are available to them to pursue and obtain a college degree? Those questions will be at the heart of a summit being held today at Starr Commonwealth in Albion. Speakers will include Michigan Department of Human Services Director Marianne Udow and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan, who co-chaired a 45-member task force in 2006 to develop an action plan to address the needs of young people who age out of foster care. According to DHS, approximately 500 youths reached 18 last year and left Michigan foster care. Both national and state research indicates they are more likely to encounter poverty, homelessness and unemployment than their non-foster care peers. According to a 2006 Wayne State University study, only 25 percent of former foster youths reported attending college or receiving advanced training since leaving the foster care system, compared to the national average of 67 percent of young adults ages 18-24.

Monday, April 16, 2007

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Vouchers see mixed success this session
Stateline.org – April 9, 2007
This year the school choice movement reached a milestone – Utah became the first state to sign a universal voucher law. Unlike other voucher programs, Utah’s would allow every child – regardless of income or geography – to receive public money to attend private school. But a drive is under way to dismantle that plan before it can get off the ground this fall. Utahns for Public Schools, a coalition including the state’s teachers union and school boards association, is trying to take the voucher decision out of lawmakers’ hand and give it to the voters.

Decision to drop D grade being reviewed
The Californian – April 12, 2007
Temecula—School district officials and teachers are reviewing a long-standing and sometimes criticized academic policy that eliminated D grades from high school report cards. The review was jump-started recently at the behest of Superintendent Carol Leighty, who said she believes the Temecula Valley Unified School District’s 9-year-old policy is “forward thinking,” but that she wants some current data and opinions about its effectiveness and repercussions. According the policy, high school students who received a grade of less than 70 percent in any class do not get credit for the course. When trustees approved the policy, they had said it would force struggling students to take their grades more seriously. Critics of the policy had contended that it would steer students away from more challenging courses, increase the dropout rate, and that some pupils are only capable of earning D’s.

UC schools turning away record numbers
Mercury News – April 4, 2007
The University of California’s top campuses this spring rejected a record number of applicants, reflecting a nationwide trend that made 2007 the most competitive year ever for students seeking slots at elite universities. Nationwide, more than 3.2 million students will graduate from high school this June, the largest number since the 1970s, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The one bright spot was for black and Latino applicants, who saw their admission offers increase by at least 10 percent. Historically underrepresented students – blacks, American Indians and Latinos – make up nearly 23 percent of fall 2007 admissions, up from 21.7 percent for fall 2006.

Juvenile Justice

Losing juvenile jails aids justice, some say
The Times-Picayune – April 8, 2007
The floods that followed Katrina wiped out both detention facilities. The crisis was viewed as an opportunity, not only by civilian youth advocates but by many police who had come to see juvenile lockup as a breeding ground as likely to turn delinquents into hardened criminals as to scare them back onto the straight and narrow. In search of an alternative, Juvenile Court judges began meeting with the New Orleans Police Department, local agencies that serve youth, and the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In Orleans, the consortium of officials decided against rebuilding the juvenile jails, seeing them as part of a flawed system that relied too heavily on detention and offered few alternative programs. Under the new system, violent offenders are still detained, but most arrested children are released to their parents and ordered to appear in court at later date.

Foster Care

Racial disparity in foster care addressed
Bowling Green Daily News – April 5, 2007
Gov. Ernie Fletcher and leaders from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced a project Tuesday to target racial disparity in child welfare system in 11 counties, including Warren. Tom Eberton, undersecretary for Children and Family Services, said his office has proposed a $500,000 2007 budget to provide for administrative costs, education and community outreach materials, training contracts and data management services. Eberton said the project will allow his office to study the disparity further and see what contributes to it, what’s going on and why these numbers are so high.

Foster kids call for the right to drive
Miami Herald – April 9, 2007
Tallahassee—When you’re in the foster care system, a driver’s license isn’t a right of passage, says Chelsea Hall, a former foster child. It is another reminder that something separates you from other teenagers. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, would make it easier for foster children to get their driver’s license by allowing caseworkers and foster parents to sign the required paperwork without accepting legal responsibility for the young driver. The proposal also would allow some foster children to open their own bank accounts and expand their access to healthcare and support services.

Monday, April 09, 2007

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Voicing Concern for English-Learners in Debate over NCLB
Education Week – April 4, 2007
Peter Zamora, a recent graduate of Georgetown University Law Center is putting his experience to use as co-chairman of a diverse coalition of advocacy groups pressing the concerns of English-learners as Congress considers reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The impact of the “rigid tracking system” left Latino and African-American students behind which was seen through time spent in a California high school.

D.C. students graduate without meeting requirements
The Washington Times – April 6, 2007
A government audit released yesterday questioned whether D.C. public school system officials fairly apply graduation requirements in city schools and uncovered more than a dozen students at one high school who graduated despite failing to earn diplomas. The report found that D.C. Public Schools do not “have well-defined or documented requirements or policies,” which increases the risk that school officials won’t apply graduation requirements consistently, auditors said.

Ohio campaigns to get more students into college
The Enquirer – March 29, 2007
Ohio high schoolers will be barraged with fliers, advertisements, and Internet links pushing higher education as part of a new effort to bring the state out of its college graduate doldrums. Gov. Ted Strickland said Wednesday the state, which ranks low in residents with college degrees, will join the national KnowHow2Go initiative that pushed college education to 8th-through 10th- graders, and expand it to reach more young adults. Low-income students will be the focus of the multimedia campaign, which is funded through a $200,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation on Education.

Juvenile Justice

GU Announces New Center for Juvenile Justice
Georgetown University – April 4, 2007
The Georgetown Public Policy Institute recently announced the creation of the new Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and Systems Integration, to support scholarship and discourse on issues relating to juvenile justice reform. The center will sponsor academic programs and symposia for government leaders involved in juvenile justice policy and practice. Under Shay Bilchik’s leadership, this new center will enhance the nation’s dialogue on how our juvenile justice system- both prevention and intervention-can operate more effectively.

Juvenile Status Sought for 16-and 17-year-olds
Fairfield Citizen – April 6, 2007
Fairfield resident Abby Anderson was one of more than 300 people who rallied together at the state Capitol on March 9 for “Educate the Legislature Day for Raise the Age CT.” The rally was part of an initiative to get nonviolent 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult prisons and into the juvenile justice system. Youth sent to the adult criminal justice system in Connecticut are not eligible for the kinds of services that prevent them for re-offending that are available in the juvenile justice system, according to information provided by the CJJA.

Foster Care

On California’s Foster-Care System Needs of foster youth are not met
San Francisco Chronicle – April 8, 2007
Children living in our foster-care system are all too often separated from their families, friends, schools, neighborhoods and everything that is familiar. For many, these separations take place without any warning. Add that to the abuse or neglect that precipitated their removal, and the outcome is that far too many foster children undergo psychological trauma at a young age. Indeed, most children living in foster care – youngsters at greatest risk of emotional and upheaval – often do not receive psychiatric care until their situation reaches a crisis point. Research shows that less than one-third of children received mental-health services during the year following contact with the child-welfare system, despite overwhelming evidence that early intervention may be an important element in reducing long-term negative consequences.

Foster Children at the Center of School Voucher Debate
All Headline News – April 7, 2007
According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, about 10,000 Florida children are in foster care at any given time, although over the course of a year the number of children who experience foster care is significantly higher. Children in foster care often experience numerous changes in placement require changes in schools. Not only must foster children cope with the emotional consequences of such instability, they also must adjust to new teachers, classmates, curricula and rules. In addition, school disruptions often result in lost credits, delayed academic progress, repetition of grades, and delays in enrollment and transfer of student records. Under legislation that passed a House council this week, foster children and youths who have left the juvenile justice system would be eligible for $3,750 scholarships annually to attend private schools, where they care remain even if they change homes and school zones.

County may help ex-fosters
Inside Bay Area – April 6, 2007
Now, the county is ready to help these young adults by creating an “emancipation village” at Fred Finch Youth Center in Oakland. County supervisors last week approved a $150,000 study to assess whether the youth center site is appropriate for a transitional housing complex for as many as 60 18-to 24-year-olds. A live-in resident in each of four dormitory-style buildings would assist the young people with job and educational opportunities. The county also would operate a health clinic, post-foster care training program and independent living skill project on-site.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

America Has Lost a Generation of Black Boys
The Chattanoogan – March 21, 2007
There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of Black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young Black me. The question that remains is will we lost the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death. Most young Black men in the United State don’t graduate from high school. Only a few Black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few Black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.

Juvenile Justice

Reeling in the big one: the smile of a troubled kid
The Daily Herald – April 1, 2007
As community corrections officers with the Snohomish County Juvenile Court, O’Day and Malcolm are involved in the After School Alternative Program. Judges send kids to the program because of minor offenses or truancy, or because parents have filed petitions to have them declared at-risk youth. The program, which includes mandatory school attendance and home confinement, keeps kids out of detention at Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett. As a bonus, it gives them experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have.

Prosecutors vow to get tougher on juveniles
Orlando Sentinel – March 27, 2007
Central Florida prosecutors say they have lost faith in a juvenile justice system ill-equipped to handle a growing number of violent teenage criminals. As a result, the Orlando/Osceola State Attorney’s Office is considering charging more youths as adult defendants—thrusting them into a criminal justice system with severe penalties, such as prison time. Juveniles charged with less-violent crimes, such as burglary, could now end up in adult court when in the past, prosecutors would have kept them in the juvenile system. “We are going to err on the side of public safety,” said State Attorney’s Office spokesman Randy Means. “We don’t have confidence in the juvenile justice system.”

Boys & Girls Club opens for Juvenile Justice kids
Ventura County Star – March 27, 2007
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Huemene officially opened the first club inside the Ventura County Juvenile Justice complex on Monday. The partnership is part of an initiative- Targeted Re-entry – funded by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the U.S. Department of Justice, the state of California, and the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justices and Delinquency Prevention. The initiative is designed to provide opportunities for youths who are serving 90 days or less to easily reenter their communities upon leaving the juvenile justice system.

Foster Care

Kids get a voice in Youth Cabinet
Times Union – March 30, 2007
Albany—To advise him on matters affecting young people, County Executive Mike Breslin has formed a Youth Cabinet. The mission of the eight-member group is to act as a voice for the youth of Albany County and inform the count executive “in matter pertaining to services consumed and needed by youth in order to promote independence and success”. The Youth Cabinet will examine ways in which Albany County’s services can be enhanced to address quality-of-life concerns.

National Birthday Party Highlights Need for Foster Care Financing Reform
PNN – March 29, 2007
Thirty young people, including current and former foster youth from across the nation, joined child welfare advocates, policymakers and others at a Capitol Hill event today to celebrate and recognize the birthdays of the more than 500,000 children in foster care. According to Time for Reform: Too Many Birthdays in Foster Care, a guide to the U.S. foster care system released at the event, child in foster care spend an average of more than two years in care, move three different homes, and can be separated from brothers and sisters, friends and family. Childhood rituals—like birthday celebrations—can go unmarked and unnoticed for children in foster care. Flexibility in financing system would create and support permanent, loving families through reunification, adoption, and guardianship according to the Pew Commission.

On their own at 18
Union-Tribune – March 24, 2007
Proposed state legislation and a new local program would change the way foster children are dropped into the adult world. At the Children’s Advocacy Institute’s urging, legislation has been introduced to change the way the state treats former foster kids – from a patchwork of short-term programs to a more organized system of support. CAI proposes financial support and a Transition Guardian Program, designed to “replicate as closely as possible the commitment of responsible parents during the transition of their children into independent adulthood.”