|
Report
Challenges Justice System to Enlist Families, Communities
to
Help Teens Struggling with Drugs, Alcohol and Crime
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2007
Contact: Mac Prichard
macp@pdx.edu; 503-725-8921
Portland, OR (September 24, 2007) –A national group of
community leaders today released a report detailing how families,
community members, judges, probation officers and treatment
professionals can better help teens in trouble with drugs,
alcohol and crime. The authors, part of the Reclaiming Futures
initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, share
lessons learned in the report, Moving Toward Equal Ground:
Engaging the capacity of youth, families and communities to
improve treatment services and outcomes in the juvenile justice
system.
The authors contend that in order to help youth successfully
overcome drugs, alcohol and crime, juvenile justice systems
need to do a better job of engaging families and community
members early in treatment and after-care. The report describes
how families and community members can connect these youth
with mentors, jobs, school, community service and other supports
as well as advocate for effective drug and alcohol treatment
for youth in the justice system.
“Families and community members have the right to be
involved and need to be involved in all aspects of helping
youth in the justice system who struggle with alcohol and
drug use,” said Laura Nissen, Ph.D., Reclaiming Futures
national program director. “They can shape the way the
system treats these youth, and provide the positive social
opportunities needed to keep them out of trouble.”
The report focuses on lessons learned during the formation
of the Reclaiming Futures project and model tested in 10 communities
during the past five years. The authors include parents and
community leaders from the 10 communities who worked together
during the five-year period to ensure that family and community
engagement was integrated throughout the model.
The Reclaiming Futures approach screens each teen for drug
and alcohol problems, assesses the severity of their drug
and alcohol use, and provides prompt access to a treatment
plan coordinated by a service team. Reclaiming Futures
also connects teens with employers, mentors, and volunteer
service projects.
A recent independent evaluation by the Urban Institute and
the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children
found that participating communities report that Reclaiming
Futures has improved the coordination and quality of substance
abuse interventions for teens involved with the juvenile justice
system.
“Across America, families and community members - the
people who are most important to these youth and most invested
in their success – are too often shut out of the system,”
said Alan Robichaud, a Reclaiming Futures community representative
from New Hampshire who helped write the report. “Reclaiming
Futures communities are creating an equal partnership among
families, communities and service systems.”
The report from Reclaiming Futures community fellows includes
case studies of successful community-based programs, including
the following.
- In Dayton, Ohio, a
thriving Natural Helpers program trains volunteers to become
mentors with youth who are working to recover from drugs,
alcohol and crime.
- Community members
helped get a drug and alcohol treatment facility located
in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, so that teens could
get treatment without having to travel through rival gang
territory.
- On the Lakota Indian
Reservation in South Dakota, the community established a
new youth center where teens can have positive social interactions,
away from drugs and alcohol. Tribal elders serve as
role models, sharing Lakota stories and traditions.
- In the mountains of
Southeastern Kentucky, the Masonic Lodge hosts a “Hooked
on Fishing” program for boys involved in the justice
system, while the Women’s Club is mentoring at-risk
middle school girls.
- In Portland, Oregon,
community leaders have shared stories of their own teenage
struggles and encouraged adults to serve as mentors through
the “When You Were 15” project.
The report can be read
in its entirety at www.reclaimingfutures.org.
About Reclaiming Futures
Reclaiming Futures is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation that offers a new approach to helping teenagers
caught in the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime. Its 10 communities
include: Anchorage, Alaska.; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Chicago,
Ill.; four counties in Southeastern Kentucky; Marquette, Mich.;
the state of New Hampshire; the Sovereign Tribal Nation of
Sicangu Lakota in Rosebud, South Dakota; Dayton, Ohio; Portland,
Ore.; and Seattle, Wash. The national office of Reclaiming
Futures is housed in the Regional Research Institute of the
Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University.
Visit www.reclaimingfutures.org.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing
health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s
largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the
health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works
with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify
solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely
change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought
experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach
to the problems that affect the health and health care of
those it serves. Visit www.rwjf.org |
