This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.
The New York Times – December 3, 2008
The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Educators at conference plan ways to cut dropout rate
Union-Tribune – December 5, 2008
Take any five ninth-graders at a high school in the county, and one of them is likely to drop out sometime over the next four years. Michael Wotorson was joined by Jack O'Connell, California's state superintendent of public instruction, and other educators to discuss the dropout crisis and prescriptions for reform.

Juvenile Justice

Report: State’s juvenile laws need rewriting
Gainesville Times – December 7, 2008
Georgia’s laws governing juvenile courts are outdated, overly complicated, sometimes inconsistent and in dire need of a complete overhaul, a new report from a public interest law center suggests. "I’m very hopeful there will be a revision of the code in existence," said Ari Mathe, an attorney with the Northeastern Circuit Public Defender’s office. Mathe co-chaired a state bar committee that worked on the project for two years, interviewing hundreds of juvenile court stakeholders. "Obviously the people of Georgia are ready for it, and I hope the legislators will hear that and understand a change needs to be made."

Florida's 'cooling off' option soothes troubled families
Herald Tribune – December 7, 2008
Sarah Cooksey she felt bewildered and desperate when deteriorating relations with their adopted daughter, Amanda, culminated in a vicious physical fight, with the 17-year-old girl stomping out of the house. The police, who picked up Amanda, suggested an emergency shelter for a two-week cooling-off period, a place where troubled teenagers receive anger-management lessons, social-skills classes and counseling for themselves and their parents -- and later bedtimes if they follow the rules.

Foster Care

Reflections for Youth helping steer troubled teens in right direction
Reporter Herald – December 8, 2008
Although they might have made poor decisions in the past, teenagers should never be given up on. And Loveland’s Reflections for Youth, a residential treatment center, is there to make sure they’re not. With therapy groups, live-in homes, nonpublic schools and opportunities to volunteer in the community, the nonprofit is giving often troubled teens the skills to make it in life, and the power to make positive choices.

Helping youth from foster care to college, if they apply
Press of Atlantic City – December 8, 2008
One day, Courtney Godenich would like to help businesses develop programs to reduce stress in the workplace. But for now, the Richard Stockton College sophomore is focused on getting her degree in psychology and business studies, a degree that might not have been possible without a state program that helps pay for college.

Youth 'aged out' of foster care get a helping hand at Sunnyvale transitional home
The Mercury News – December 3, 2008
The instability of Marina Galan's youth began with her shuttling between her mother and father's home. It was replaced when she entered foster care at age 3 by the repeated shocks and insecurity of shuttling between foster homes. Galan, now 18, has lived for two months in an otherwise unremarkable house on a quiet southern Sunnyvale cul-de-sac, a group home operated by the faith-based nonprofit Jeremiah's Promise.