This spring, New York City’s Children’s Services (ACS) announced a new initiative to keep teens safe at home and out of foster care. The“Teen Preventive Initiative” will expand access to two intensive, short-term supports—Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) and Family Functional Therapy (FFT). Both focus on supporting the whole family and have been proven to help families of teens during a crisis.
Here, Sara Hemmeter, NYC Children’s Services Associate Commissioner of Family and … Read More
When my youngest son, Charlie, was in nursery school, his teacher suggested that I put him in a gifted and talented school forkindergarten. She told me that the school I was going to enroll him in wasn’t challenging, warning me, “When he reaches the 3rd or 4th grade, he’s going to get in trouble. The work is going to be too easy.”
But at that time I was a caretaker for children … Read More
At community forums organized by the New York Center for Juvenile Justice, parents are turning out to talk about a pressing issue affecting teenagers and their families: In New York, 16 and 17 year olds arecharged as adults for all crimes. Most other states set the “age of criminal responsibility” at 18; only New York and North Carolina set it at 16.
Michael Corriero, executive director of the New York Center for … Read More
My son’s involvement with the juvenile justice system started withcigarettes. When he was 12 years old, Corey was suspended from school for smoking and having a lighter in his pocket. This suspension was the first of many, all related to smoking. I repeatedly asked the school for help and was repeatedly told they had no help to give.
Near the end of that school year, Corey had his first involvement with police. … Read More
This summer, Justice for Families (J4F), a national alliance of grassroots organizations working to change the juvenile justicesystem, published Families Unlocking Futures, a report by and about parents whose children are caught up in the juvenile justice system. The report argues that parents need to be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Grace Bauer, co-director of J4F, has been fighting to change conditions for incarcerated youth for … Read More
