This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

City school enrollment headed up
Baltimore Sun – November 9, 2008
Enrollment in the Baltimore schools has been plummeting since 1969. But not this year. City schools chief Andres Alonso threw a party at M&T Bank Stadium yesterday morning to announce that the enrollment decline has stopped - the result of more parents choosing to send their children to public elementary schools and fewer high school students dropping out.

New Hampshire plans to trim high school to two years
Examiner – November 7, 2008
In New Hampshire, educational officials are devising a system that will allow students to complete high school in the 10th grade and send students to high school and then send them to technical school or community colleges. For students whose intention it is to go to college, they may stay in high school and finish the last two years.

Churches unite to attack school dropout issue
The Muskegon Chronicle – November 7, 2008
A group trying to reduce the number of students dropping out of school is turning to the faithful for help. Church-goers throughout Muskegon County will be urged to become mentors to young people this Sunday. The hope is that volunteers' support will help prevent students from dropping out of school, said the Rev. John Brown, who spurred Creating a Graduation Generation!, a local effort to curb high school dropouts.

Juvenile Justice

Talk that works
Baltimore Sun – November 9, 2008
For months, the therapist took her place on the Langstons' overstuffed burgundy couch in Randallstown and listened to the teenager talk about his juvenile record, problems in school and the inability to control his anger. The Langstons are one of a small number of Maryland families who have undergone Multisystemic Therapy, an intense, family-based intervention program meant as an alternative to juvenile prison. Statewide, there are spaces for about 100 families at a time to undergo the therapy.

Police Schooled On Juvenile Justice And Other Human Right Laws
All Africa – November 4, 2008
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mrs. Elizabeth Mills Robertson has commended the African Women Lawyers Association and UNICEF for their efforts in equipping the police to combat child trafficking and other crimes. Mrs. Robertson made the commendation at the opening of a three-week course on Juvenile justice and other human rights laws relating to children for police prosecutors in Accra last Monday.

Changes to teen life sentence laws sought
Hattiesburg American – November 10, 2008
A renewed push to change Mississippi's laws pertaining to life sentences for teenagers is on the horizon for the 2009 Legislature since the effort's original poster child has been acquitted of murder. Tyler Edmonds was 13 when he was arrested in 2003, accused of helping his half-sister, Kristi Fulgham, kill her husband, Joseph T. "Joey" Fulgham. A 2006 bill, which became known as Tyler's Law, would've given judges the discretion to consider whether juveniles sentenced to life in prison should be paroled when they turn 18.

Foster Care

Treehouse teams with Starfire to aid foster kids
Highline Times – November 8, 2008
They say it takes a village to raise a child. No one knows this better than Treehouse for Kids. In keeping with the needs of children, the non-profit organization recently partnered with the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. The result is a dynamic program with resources for foster care children in South King County. On Oct. 18, the Treehouse Learning Center officially opened its doors. Amid colorful balloons, free youth haircuts by professional stylists, live entertainment, and indoor/outdoor sports fields, it was clearly a celebration for foster care youth.

County agencies hope deal will help provide stability for foster kids
Times-Herald – November 8, 2008
Solano County officials hope a new inter-agency agreement will make it easier for foster youth to transfer between schools, providing a bit more stability for children whose lives are often rocky. "Any time there's a change in their life it's usually detrimental as far as it effects another loss to them, a loss of something familiar," said Maria Moses, executive director of CASA Solano, which advocates for foster youth. The Solano County Board of Supervisors approved the agreement Tuesday, providing guidelines for agencies that work with foster youth to streamline the transfer process.

A new vision: Local looking to create nonprofit for foster youth program
Sierra Sun – November 7, 2008
Gia States thinks that the Truckee-Tahoe area’s resources — both natural and human — could make the difference for foster youth. Both the wilderness and the locals experienced in it could lend themselves to self-exploration, teamwork, and leadership, States said. “I don’t want to reinvent the wheel — I see myself as a coordinator,” States said. To be that coordinator, States is starting a nonprofit called “Remix,” to find funding and bring community members together for the benefit of foster youth, States said.