29 FEBRUARY 2008

Ohio: Director of Home wins award
George Purgert, executive director of Safely Home in Bedford, a residential treatment facility for boys 6 to 18, recently was honored as Ohio's top child- and youth-care professional. The Walton Hills resident received the Timothy E. Kuster Memorial Award for Excellence in Child Care by the Ohio Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals.
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Ireland: Alternatives urged to halt youth drinking
Only €1 million was last year spent on providing alternatives for young people to discourage drinking on the streets, a conference on alcohol in society heard yesterday. The fifth annual Meas conference in Dublin was told more resources were need for meaningful and concrete actions to prevent drink-related harm. Peter Cassells, one of the speakers and chairman of the Government's special initiative on alcohol misuse, said local groups had to be supported financially. "It may take a generation to change but the big thing is we need to help the local groups who are coming together to give them the money," he said. A report into the effects of alcohol across Europe revealed drink related road accidents cost €10 billion, health €17 billion, absenteeism €9 billion while the crime bill runs to €32 billion.
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California: Juveniles tried as adults up 170%
The district attorney's decision to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney as an adult in the killing of another boy is part of a soaring trend in Ventura County. In the past two years, the number of juvenile offenders tried as adults has nearly tripled from 10 in 2006 to 27 in 2007, officials say - a nearly 170 percent increase. Also, in the four previous years - from 2002 to 2005 - the total number of such cases was just five, according to figures from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. "It's a big jump," said Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Rafelson. "Eighty-five percent are gang cases." The increase is attributed to several factors, including more resources earmarked for gang prosecution, Rafelson said. He said prosecutors have better ways to identify and prosecute gang members.
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Review of ASB behaviour strategy in Scotland
Local authority leaders, senior police and other criminal justice professionals are among those who gathered yesterday to discuss how to better tackle antisocial behaviour. The meeting aimed to inform the review of the national antisocial behaviour strategy, announced by the Scottish Government in October. Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing has also provided more details about the review in a letter to the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee. More than three years after the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act came into force, the review aims to examine how legislative and non-legisative measures may be improved to keep communities safe and strong. As well as the establishment of a project board, a number of focus groups and public forums are to be held across Scotland, including one specifically involving younger people.
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Canada: Adults spend more time in cyberspace than teens
Before parents start badgering their kids for spending too much time online they should start clocking their own time on the Internet. According to an Ipsos Reid study released Wednesday, teens spend on average only 13 hours a week online, compared to the 19 hours spent by adults. And while the time adults spend online has climbed by six hours a week in recent years, teen time online is holding steady. The finding belies a common belief that young people are most at ease in cyberspace, with the study suggesting that not only do teens spend less time than their elders online; they are also more conservative in their use of the technology.
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27 FEBRUARY 2008

Jersey: 'A problem with punishment'
The grim discovery of a child's remains at a former Jersey care home – and the search for further bodies – follows concerns about the level of protection afforded to children on the island that date back years. Police are investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse at Jersey institutions since the 1960s. The discovery of the remains came after two – albeit unrelated - inquiries into children's services last year and a police investigation. In 2002, a former Ofsted employee, Kathie Bull – Ofsted has no jurisdiction in Jersey – produced a report highlighting concerns about children's services and calling for the closure of some childcare homes on the island.
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Kansas: New program for substance abuse prevention
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) has been awarded a $2,500,000 grant from the Administration for Children and Families to provide services to families and youth affected by methamphetamine or other substance abuse. The program has two areas of focus. The first will provide services to substance-affected families with children who have been placed in foster care or are at risk of out of home placement. These families will receive targeted training on parenting, children’s living skills and family skills. Skills training will be provided through a model program of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - the Strengthening Families Program. Kansas is the first state in the nation to implement the Strengthening Families Program statewide. These services will be available beginning March, 2008.
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B.C. child services need improvement, says watchdog
Thirty-one children, who were either in B.C. government care or receiving government services, died in the four-month period from October to January, according to the latest report from the Independent Representative for Children and Youth. In her report, representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond wrote 12 of the deaths warranted further review, and the other 19 were accidental or natural. Of the 12 deaths requiring further review, four were for deaths of children or youths in government care, and eight were receiving support. More than half were aboriginal. Generally, rates of fatalities for children in care have declined over the past 10 years, she wrote, and the number of deaths did not indicate any new reasons for concern.
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N. Ireland: Shock at children in care's exam struggles
Only 17 out of 181 children in care in Northern Ireland who sat GCSE examinations in 2006 obtained five or more passes from grade A* to C, it can be revealed. That equates to only 0.1% of the overall number of 15,596 children who achieved five or more GCSEs at grade A in examinations sat in June 2006. The shock figures were released by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey in response to questions submitted to the Assembly by MLA Alastair Ross. The figures also show that out of the 181 who left care aged 16 and over who were eligible to sit GCSEs in 2006, only 33 obtained between one and four GCSE grades between A* and C.
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Truancy among British students increases by 33 percent
Stricter absenteeism rules had little effect on British students after truancy rates rose 33 percent. The British government has spend almost $2 billion to overcome the problem, but 63,000 more British students skipped classes in the '06-'07 school year, compared to '05-'06. Overall, more than 270,000 school children were considered persistent absentees. They missed at least 20 percent of their classes. Schools Minister Kevin Brennan sad he will write to all local authorities to step up the pressure on students fond of missing their classes. The schools must probe into the causes of the frequent absenteeism, make sure the pupils follow school regulations on attendance and make parents accountable for their children's tardiness and absences.
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Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists
Prozac, the bestselling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, does not work and nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review released today. The study examined all available data on the drugs, including results from clinical trials that the manufacturers chose not to publish at the time. The trials compared the effect on patients taking the drugs with those given a placebo or sugar pill. When all the data was pulled together, it appeared that patients had improved - but those on placebo improved just as much as those on the drugs. The only exception is in the most severely depressed patients, according to the authors - Prof Irving Kirsch from the department of psychology at Hull University and colleagues in the US and Canada. But that is probably because the placebo stopped working so well, they say, rather than the drugs having worked better.
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25 FEBRUARY 2008

Prof. Leon Fulcher elected Chair of CYC-Net Governors
Leon Fulcher was last week elected as Chairman of the international Board of Governors of CYC-Net (see Board of Governors). Nine of the existing eleven Board members were available to vote, and all nine approved his nomination in an internet vote. CYC-Net will publish a fuller report and pen-picture of Dr Fulcher soon.

New Brunswick to act on child welfare report recommendations
The New Brunswick government says it will implement all the recommendations made by the province's child and youth advocate on how to improve its child welfare services. In a scathing report released in January, Bernard Richard said greater emphasis needed to be placed on addressing chronic child neglect when assessing risk factors. Social Development Minister Mary Schryer said that the government will be implementing all of the report's recommendations, which will include setting up a new mediation service. The government will also follow up on the recommendations made by the child death review committee in January, whose suggestions were similar to Richard's. "We are committed to reforming the delivery of child-protection services to provide more assistance to families, strengthen the role of social workers and better protect children," Schryer said.
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Sniffer dog hunts for bodies in Jersey care home
Police are hunting for more bodies at a former care home in Jersey where a child's skull was discovered yesterday. A sniffer dog, previously used in the search for Madeleine McCann, helped to make the first discovery and is now being used in co-ordination with radar equipment to locate any more remains buried in the building’s foundations. Police began searching the island's Youth Hostel, formerly the Haut de la Garenne home, four days ago as part of a investigation into alleged child abuse. The alarm had been raised when three different sources indicated to officers that children reported as runaways between the 1960s and the 1980s might in fact have been killed.
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New Zealand: P impact alarms judge
Couples are increasingly citing use of the drug methamphetamine or "P" as a reason for seeking protection orders, divorce and sole custody of children. Family Court judges have told the Sunday Star-Times that allegations of P use in such cases were prevalent and rising. Two judges said that a quarter of current applications for protection orders under the Domestic Violence Act involved the perpetrator of violence using P. Problem areas included New Plymouth, Wanganui, West Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Palmerston North and Wellington. Principal Family Court judge Peter Boshier said the trend was a "huge concern". "[This] is particularly ominous because it's such a hard drug to conquer in terms of rehabilitiation . . . Where meth is involved it produces such volatility that [judges] don't want to put children at risk, whereas some other forms of drugs and alcohol don't neccessarily have the same alarming consquences."
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Australia: One in 10 teenagers binge-drinking each week
The scourge of alcohol abuse across Australia is far worse than previously thought, with one in five 16- and 17-year-olds now binge-drinking in any given week and nearly 500,000 children living at risk of exposure to an adult drinking at harmful levels. The figures on cannabis use are equally disturbing, with one in seven secondary school students using the drug within the past 12 months. The problem has been allowed to reach such plague proportions because most Australians consider drinking and drug use by young people to be a normal activity and "often seen as a rite of passage to adulthood", Australian National Council on Drugs chairman John Herron warns.
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22 FEBRUARY 2008

UK: Warnings that teenager would commit suicide ignored
Agencies including youth offending teams, prison and psychiatrists collectively failed to prevent the death of 16-year-old Gareth Price, an inquest ruled today. Individuals and managers missed numerous opportunities to intervene in Gareth's life before he was found hanging in his cell at Lancaster Farms young offender institution in January 2005, the jury found. Youth offending team services failed to arrange meetings for Gareth, documentation was incomplete and there was "haphazard communication" between services. The boy's family solicitor "did nothing" with a psychiatrist's report that warned of the risk Gareth posed to himself around the time of his sentencing, the narrative verdict said. Gareth had received counselling for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder when he was 14 after a series of bereavements, the inquest was told. But warnings in two expert reports that Gareth would attempt suicide around his sentencing date were ignored.
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Wales: Copying Scots' anti-suicide plan
After an apparent spate of suicides in Bridgend, the Welsh Assembly Government is to discuss plans for a suicide prevention action plan. A similar strategy already exists in Scotland. Since September 2006, 21 young people have apparently killed themselves in the south Wales former mining area. In a fresh impetus, Wales Health Minister Edwina Hart has announced an anti-suicide campaign, modelled on a similar project in Scotland. Launched by the Scottish Executive in December 2002, Choose Life specifically targets those groups who are most at risk of suicide: young people, people with mental health problems, those with a record of self-harm, drug-users and prisoners.
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Ireland: Children ‘at risk over HSE cutbacks’
Thousands of vulnerable children could be at risk because of the health authorities’ refusal to fill hundreds of vacancies in the social care work sector, a conference heard yesterday. Morale among childcare and social care staff is at “rock-bottom� with workers becoming disillusioned because of cutbacks, according to the Irish Association of Social Care Workers president Phil McFadden. Since the start of the HSE staff recruitment embargo in September last, vacancies within services for children in care and children who need support have not been filled, said Mr McFadden at the association’s annual conference. Branding the HSE’s attitude to the situation as “disgraceful�, Mr McFadden called on HSE chief Professor Brendan Drumm to “think again� and re-examine the issue. In his area of expertise alone in inner-city Dublin, more than 200 vulnerable children don’t have assigned social workers because of a lack of staff. “This is down to cutbacks. There is one team leader and six social workers in the area. There are nine social workers in all of north-east Dublin,� he said.
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BC: Government acts too soon
The government takes children from their homes and places them in foster care far too soon, claims a new report from the Pivot Legal Society. The report's authors, who interviewed 44 parents, suggest social workers are apprehending kids as a first form of intervention in troubled homes when it really should be the last. "In many cases, kids don't need to spend the time in foster care that they're spending," said Darcie Bennett, a research co-ordinator at Pivot and the report's co-author. Aboriginal children are disproportionately affected. They are almost 10 times more likely to be in care than non-aboriginal children, according to Ministry of Children and Family Development stats. The report's authors say social workers are saddled with heavy caseloads that prevent them from properly doing their jobs. Meanwhile, preventative resources like parenting skills programs go under funded.
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20 FEBRUARY 2008

Canada: CYC Students fight for ADAPT Program
A group of Malaspina University-College students has sent a petition to MLA Leonard Krog, opposing the closure of Nanaimo Alcohol Drug And Prevention Treatment Society. ADAPT announced at the end of January it was closing its doors and dissolving the society as of March 31. ADAPT offered drug and alcohol counselling and therapy to young people and their families, as well as withdrawal management for youths. The 20 students in the Child and Youth Care program at the Malaspina Nanaimo campus sent the petition to Krog last week. The reason given for the closure, that ADAPT has outgrown the volunteer board, is simply not good enough," the letter said. "We suggest that if the need for ADAPT's service has grown so quickly, closing the doors is the last thing that should happen." One of the students, Cynthia Dyer, said that when the issue of the closure was discussed among her cohorts, "there wasn't enough information" given the seriousness of the action.
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UK: Focus on criminals-to-be
IPPR, a think-tank, wants children at risk of becoming criminals to be targeted earlier, reports Community Care (Feb 14). Prolific offenders typically start offending between 10 and 13. Make Me a Criminal recommends bringing in “Sure Start Plusâ€Â� for children aged 5 to 12, offering parenting programmes, intensive educational support and cognitive behavioural therapy for those at risk. Policy does not do enough to prevent criminal behaviour and relies on “empty punishmentsâ€Â�, the report states. Statistics from the Youth Justice Board suggest that the Government spends 11 times more on locking young people up than it does on prevention. ASBOs need to be reformed – with the maximum length slashed from ten years to two – and should only very rarely be issued to children younger than 12.
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New Zealand: Call to extend foster care beyond 18
Foster care agencies want to extend foster care payments for young people who stay in education or training beyond the age of 18. Britain's biggest foster care company, which is setting up a New Zealand business, Foster Care Associates, says the issue has become important across Europe as more young people choose to stay at home until they finish their education. The New Zealand Family and Foster Care Federation also advocates a rethink in view of recent Government decisions to raise the "education leaving age", and the ages of adult court jurisdiction and leaving state care and protection, to 18. "I personally feel that young people do need that extra involvement up to 20, somewhere they can come back to," said federation president Carolyn Hill.
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Ireland: Addicts to benefit from psychiatric care plan
YOUNG people addicted to cocaine, suffering from eating disorders, or with suicidal tendencies are to benefit from a €100m expansion in services by the largest independent mental health care service in the country. St Patrick's Hospital will today outline an ambitious five-year strategy focusing on introducing community-based services at various locations across the country in an effort to alleviate the crisis in mental health care. Among the new initiatives planned are a child and adolescent service, an addictions programme for 18-25 year olds, and a mental health treatment centre for the elderly. It comes after a HSE review revealed yesterday that more than 1,000 children are waiting over a year for vital psychiatric assessments in Ireland.
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Indiana: Detention fee grabs parents' attention
Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper said there once were a lot of parents who had no problem having their children locked up at the county juvenile detention center. That all changed a few years ago when the county began charging parents $100 a day to house and care for the young people, she said. "We see parents working harder," Harper said. Now, in addition to encouraging parents to better supervise their children, the detention fee has generated $144,450, which juvenile officials hope to use to further help the troubled youths, Harper said. Harper said she plans to appear soon before the County Council to seek approval of a plan to use the proceeds to hire a case manager and fund a probation officer to work in the detention center. "We are hopeful they will support our vision to provide better services," Harper said last week during a meeting of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. The proposal will contribute to an effort aimed at improving mental health services for the troubled youths, Harper said.
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18 FEBRUARY 2008

Australia: Overcrowding pressures prisons
Overcrowding in state prisons has been blamed for forcing adult offenders to be held in juvenile facilities with children as young as 14, resulting in assaults on staff and several escape attempts. Up to 25 per cent of inmates at the Cavan Secure Care juvenile centre are over the age of 18 and one 24-year-old male has been detained in the 36-bed centre. Both the Opposition and Corrections Department sources have claimed that since December there has been a fire at the centre, an escape attempt and five officers have been assaulted. Opposition prisons spokesman Stephen Wade also said the detention of mature-age prisoners alongside juveniles was a breach of an international civil rights treaty.
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Malta: Consultation process on standards for residential child care launched
Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina yesterday launched a two-month consultation process on the National Draft Standards for Residential Child Care. In a brief address, the minister pointed out that the draft document is the final result of four years of work by stakeholders in the sector. She pointed out that when she became minister four years ago, the services for residential care were fragmented but now there is a stronger dynamism and synergy. Mrs Cristina said her ministry focused a lot on children – not only through the implementation of laws but also through new structures and services. She went on to say that parliament approved 12 laws that were drafted by her ministry – including the law on invalidity pensions and pension reform.
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UK: Child commissioner criticises 'heavy-handed' police
Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, said that heavy-handed policing was breeding resentment, and called on officers to try harder to "understand" young people. He claimed that Britain had moved on from an era of "authoritarianism", when "you did what you were told", to a point where police needed to win over the "hearts and minds" of the young. The comments, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, triggered controversy last night. Police chiefs insisted that they already try to work "constructively" with youngsters, while one MP called Prof Aynsley-Green "a mouthpiece for yobs". Boris Johnson, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, says today in the Telegraph that a lack of police on the streets has led to a climate in which "no one is willing to front up a 12-year-old" for fear of violent retaliation.
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California; Juveniles tried as adults up 170%
The district attorney's decision to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney as an adult in the killing of another boy is part of a soaring trend in Ventura County. In the past two years, the number of juvenile offenders tried as adults has nearly tripled from 10 in 2006 to 27 in 2007, officials say – a nearly 170 percent increase. Also, in the four previous years – from 2002 to 2005 – the total number of such cases was just five, according to figures from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. "It's a big jump," said Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Rafelson. "Eighty-five percent are gang cases." The increase is attributed to several factors, including more resources earmarked for gang prosecution, Rafelson said. He said prosecutors have better ways to identify and prosecute gang members. It allows us to pursue those cases more vigorously," he said.
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Illinois: Legislators urge staffing for juvenile justice agency
A year and a half after the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice was formed, no permanent director or advisory board for the agency has been appointed by the governor. Lawmakers want to see the agency move forward. The Illinois House voted late last week to urge Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fully staff the department. Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich, said the department is still in its infancy. “The Department of Juvenile Justice is a priority for the governor,� Rausch said. “We continue to look for people who are interested in shaping it as it moves forward and develops.� Mary Reynolds, a lobbyist with the Springfield-based Juvenile Justice Initiative, said the resolution urges the governor to appoint permanent staff to the department and bring it in line with a plan to make juvenile incarceration more focused on rehabilitation. “The current interim director has made progress since the act was passed, but it’s been slow progress,� Reynolds said.
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15 FEBRUARY 2008

Princess Royal to visit Kibble
Princess Anne is coming to Paisley to give an award winning school the royal seal of approval. The hard-working Princess Royal is being welcomed to Kibble Education and Care Centre on Monday. (February 18) She will perform the official opening ceremony at the newly-built safe centre on the campus, at Goudie Street, Paisley. The safe centre has secure accommodation for 18 boys who are referred to Kibble by the courts or Children’s Hearing system. Kibble’s chief executive, Graham Bell said: “We are honoured that the Princess Royal is coming to visit us and to open the safe centre. It is recognition of the important role that Kibble plays nationally working with young people. “We are at the cutting edge of putting into practice the latest techniques in looking after young people who have a crisis in their lives. This is reflected in the fact that the new safe centre is now full and our services are in demand for boys from all over Scotland.� The Kibble is the largest multi-service centre in the United Kingdom specialising in work with young people at risk. It provides community outreach, residential care, secondary education, intensive fostering, secure care and employment training for care leavers delivered through a portfolio of social enterprises. Mr Bell added: “Young people come here because they need specialist support and stability. Having such a high-profile person as the Princess Royal coming to Kibble underlines the confidence there is in its work to help and support young people, preparing them to take their place in society as productive and good citizens when they reach adulthood.�
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Labrador: Innu kids facing foster care crisis: chief
At least a quarter of the children in Labrador's two Innu communities are in some form of protective custody, a document obtained by CBC News shows. More than 200 children in Sheshatshiu and Natuashish are involved with the child welfare system, care that ranges from supervision by social workers to being taken out of the home – and, in some cases, out of the province altogether. (CBC) For instance, 57 children as of Jan. 1 were placed in continuous custody, according to a statistical update filed to the chiefs of the two Innu communities, both of which have had notorious histories with alcohol, drug and solvent abuse. With about 800 residents of the two communities under 18, the figures show an appalling situation, said Natuashish Chief Prote Poker.
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UK: Bid to halt crimes by children in care
Guidelines aimed at reducing the number of children in Worcestershire's residential care system committing crimes have been launched in Worcester. The restorative approaches protocol, which provides guidelines for care home staff to follow when trouble occurs, has been devised to resolve conflicts without having to introduce youngsters into the criminal justice system. Following the launch, where it was signed by different partners, Fiona Allen, restorative justice officer for Worcestershire and Herefordshire Youth Offending Service, said: "The event featured a short film of one young person who has been in the care system for a long time who felt that these approaches would have made a difference to her experience. "Another young person said, I'ts hard enough to have to live in a unit, away from your own family, without getting a criminal record when things go wrong'."
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Australia says Sorry
In a landmark turning point in Australia's history, new prime minister Kevin Rudd has apologised on behalf of the country for the maltreatment of its indigenous population in past centuries. Australia's streets filled with citizens from all backgrounds, many carrying the black, red and gold Aboriginal flag, who stood in solemn silence watching the live TV feed from Canberra on big outdoor screens. Many were moved to tears. Most of the speech was aimed at the 'Stolen Generations', tens of thousands of Aboriginal and mixed-race children that were forcibly removed from their families between 1910 and 1970 in a misguided attempt to 'assimilate' them into white culture. Many grew up in care institutions or abusive foster homes, and some never saw their families again.
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UK: Children carrying knives and bottles to beat the bullies
A rise in bullying has prompted more children than ever to carry knives and bottles to defend themselves, according to a survey. And while bullies once operated only on school playgrounds they have now taken to the streets, the study for the education watchdog Ofsted revealed. Children's rights director for England Dr Roger Morgan said it shows that bullying has also spread to the home, as well as the Internet, through social websites. The survey involved 319 children who were in care or using social care services. Many felt bullying in general was getting worse and about four out of ten said they had been victims of electronic bullying, such as receiving a threatening text message or a mobile phone call
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Australia: Boot camp gets short shrift from premier
A call by Queensland Liberal leader and shadow attorney general Mark McArdle to send young, violent criminals to boot camp has been quickly rejected by premier Anna Bligh. The member for Caloundra’s plea came as the Coast recorded increases in serious assaults and antisocial behaviour by youths. “These people are most at risk of going ahead to commit major crimes and spending a long time in jail,� he said. But Ms Bligh said her government had adequate juvenile facilities, including diversionary centres. “We have a very strong record on juvenile justice,� Ms Bligh said. “We certainly will not be taking advice from the member for Caloundra.�
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13 FEBRUARY 2008

New York: ACS opens new space for teen girls forced from their homes
The Administration for Children's Services has unveiled a new space for teenage girls who have been forced to leave their homes. “Bright Spaceâ€Â� will serve girls aged 12 to 18 who are waiting for foster care. ACS leaders say they hope the new space will allow teens to relax during what is sure to be a turbulent time in their lives. “Twenty-four hours and seven days a week, we take children who can't stay with their families or who are no longer willing to stay with their families,â€Â� says ACS Commissioner John Mattingly. “So we need to have for however short a time they are here – it’s usually one, two nights – but we need to have a good place for them to rest, be safe and to be comfortable."
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Scotland: Rights of children left out in sentencing decisions
The human rights of at least 13,500 children are being ignored when parents are imprisoned in Scotland, warned the country's commissioner for children and young people, Kathleen Marshall, last week. She said the children were “invisible victims of crime�, who are silenced by the shame and stigma of having an imprisoned parent, but whose rights and needs are ignored when sentencing decisions are made. Marshall's review of policies and practices found that in most cases the potential impact on a child was not taken into account by criminal justice social workers or the penal system.
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US: Rehabilitating young offenders
Ohio and Kentucky are poised for significant - and promising - changes in both philosophy and practice in their juvenile justice systems. Both states are moving toward a more flexible and personal approach to dealing with young offenders. They're stressing treatment over punishment, keeping the youth closer to their homes and considering a wider range of factors before making sentencing recommendations. They're also pledging to do a better job of sorting out youths convicted of minor offenses from serious offenders, and placing them in settings that are more appropriate to their level of risk to the community. The result: young offenders should be safer in state programs, and in for shorter periods of time. Staff should be safer, too. These systems are not aimed at the hardest of the hard-core offenders who are sent to adult court. Those in the juvenile system are youthful offenders the courts already have determined are salvageable.
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Australia: Parents to be held more accountable
Parents of children who repeatedly break the law could be fined, have their televisions seized or be made to attend counselling under a radical plan to crack down on juvenile crime in the Northern Territory. Youth camps and compulsory guidance workshops are also part of the three-pronged attack on anti-social behaviour announced today by NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson. "As part of the plan, juvenile diversion will no longer be a revolving door. Parents will be made more accountable and youth camps will help get kids back on track,'' Mr Henderson said. "Our community is paying the price for a small group of kids who don't respect the law, their parents or the public - and enough is enough.'' As part of the package, legislation will be introduced to parliament that holds parents accountable for their children's criminal activity.
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Ireland: Snapshot of a cocaine nation
THE vast majority of cocaine users in Ireland get the drug off their friends and take it for fun, a major new Government report has revealed. A survey by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on drug usage, published today, finds cocaine use has become an almost everyday feature of young people's social lives. It reveals more than 90pc of regular users take cocaine with their friends, while most users have been hit financially as a result of their cocaine habit. Drugs Minister Pat Carey last night said Irish drug takers were "anxious to do everything to excess" and were more likely to use a cocktail of drugs and alcohol than other nationalities. Mr Carey, who has special responsibility for the national drugs strategy said that an additional €1m in funding would be announced in the coming weeks to pay for the training of drug addiction counsellors and awareness campaigns.
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11 FEBRUARY 2008

New York: Broken juvenile justice system wastes millions of dollars and fails kids
New York State's juvenile justice system is an expensive, dismal failure that does great harm to children and families without making our neighborhoods safer. That indictment comes from Gladys Carrión, who as commissioner of the Office of Children & Family Services is in charge of 35 juvenile detention facilities that hold 2,000 or so kids under 16 who have committed what would be criminal acts if they were adults. A staggering 80% of the youngsters who enter New York's juvenile facilities end up returning or graduating to adult prisons within three years - a recidivism rate higher than the 60% in the adult criminal justice system. Taxpayers are shelling out top dollar for that 80% failure rate: In some facilities, it works out to a mind-boggling $200,000 a year per juvenile inmate.
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Australia: Department insiders blow whistle on tragedy
On the eve of the State Government's special commission of inquiry into child protection services, prompted by the death of seven-year-old Shellay Ward, frustrated staff have spoken to the Herald about reports of abuse that are never investigated and children in care who never see a case worker. Long silenced by government restrictions on speaking to the media, these Department of Community Services workers say it is time for their views to be heard. They believe it is the only way to ensure that the Wood Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services, due to begin public forums this week, will succeed in undoing the years of neglect and bad policies that have led to the crisis. The workers who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity, fearful for their jobs and mindful of the impact their actions may have on clients. Many more were unwilling to speak, while others withdrew after legal advice.
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Newfoundland and Labrador: Province facing largest foster-parent shortage ever
The director of Child, Youth and Family Services said that while the number of foster homes in the region have gone down, the number of children in need of care has risen. Last year, she said, there were 20 per cent more children taken into care than in the previous year. The result of that shortage, Diane Malloy of the Newfoundland and Labrador Foster Families Association said, is that families such as the Morris’s are being overburdened. “It’s probably the worst it’s ever been in the history of the province,� she said. “What that means is overcrowding in current homes. It means children often can’t be placed in their home communities when they are placed in foster care It means siblings can’t always be placed together.� She said there are multiple reasons for the lack of homes, including the large number of families leaving the province for work, causing a decrease in family support for children at risk, and a lack of support resources for foster families.
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Ireland: State needs to take responsibility for children in care, says Athlone Judge
The State needs to take responsibility for juveniles in care instead of casting them aside to the “social dustbin� and leaving it up to gardai and the prison service to sit on its lid, according to an Athlone Judge. Judge Conal Gibbons made the comments at Athlone District Court this week after hearing the case of a boy, with a history of violent behaviour and theft, who must now leave St Michael’s, a HSE residential care provider to which he was entrusted by his father, because he has turned 16 years old. After reading a detailed report, Judge Gibbons said that “the experts have set out clearly the difficulties he has, which are huge. Now that he is 16, they [St Michael’s] can pass him onto other services, St Patrick’s institute and the like... It’s the obligation of the State to deal with care issues, it can’t walk away from people in need of care. His needs may have been recognised but they have not been addressed. It has been left over to gardai to deal with a young lad who is criminally violent.
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Winnipeg to crack down on crime: mayor
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz focused on crime in his annual state of the city address on Friday, saying every time a crime is committed, the "reckless" flout the consequences and tarnish the city. "It's time for a new deal: A new deal on crime," Katz told about 900 people who attended the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce event. In the coming months, city council will examine an "integrated crime-prevention strategy," Katz said, which will include input from aboriginal, faith-based and community groups, and focus on ways to prevent young people from becoming involved in criminal activity.
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8 FEBRUARY 2008

UK: Archbishop of Canterbury criticises 'Indefensible' treatment of young people in prison
The Archbishop of Canterbury has called upon the government to look critically at the use of strip-searching and prison segregation units for children in the criminal justice system. Asking a question in the House of Lords, the Archbishop invited the government to agree that different standards in how society treats its children and how it treats those children that are in prison were "indefensible". The question was asked as a supplementary to an oral question tabled by Lord Judd on the use of restraint and the treatment of young people in the criminal justice system. In his reply, the minister Lord Hunt confirmed that the Youth Justice Board intended to review the use of strip-searching, but did not respond on the points made about standards or the use of segregation. The Archbishop of Canterbury intervention follows his call in November 2007 for a raise in the age of criminal responsibility and for the needs of the child not to be overlooked when considering their treatment in the criminal justice system.
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Philadelphia council eyes youth program as mayor cuts funds
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has cut $21 million from a provider of after-school and youth anti-violence programs. At the same time, the City Council is stepping up scrutiny of the nonprofit, taxpayer-funded Safe and Sound program. Nutter's move reverses a decision by his predecessor, Mayor John Street, to increase the program's budget. Nutter is cutting Safe and Sound from $75 million a year back to $54 million. He says the increase was never authorized.Safe and Sound manages contracts with hundreds of providers. Officials say the cutback will shut down some programs, including some community centers and after-school activities and a parent-truancy program. Council Majority Leader Marian Tasco says she'll call Thursday for hearings on details of what Safe and Sound does and how it does it.
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Child welfare chief praised as he leaves New Jersey post
When Kevin M. Ryan took over the child welfare system he had critiqued so persistently as New Jersey’s child advocate, he was seen as the white-hat reformer who just might be able to turn around a flawed system that faced a federal takeover. The “big questionâ€Â� at the time, said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, was: “Will he be allowed the time to do the job?â€Â� As Mr. Ryan steps down at the end of the month after two years – primarily because of the financial difficulties of putting his six children through college on a commissioner’s salary, according to colleagues he has confided in – many in the field are crediting him with laying a strong foundation for systemwide change of the agency, and wishing aloud that he could stay longer. In an interview Tuesday here at Covenant House, the agency serving homeless children where Mr. Ryan, 41, began his career as a lawyer, he said, “I have a real sadness that I will not be part of the reform team that crosses the bridge, from phase one to phase two, from where we are today, to the promise of an enduring reform.â€Â�
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Wales: Suicide spate 'masks' wider worry
The MP for Bridgend has said the recent spate of suicides in her constituency masked a high level of suicides across the whole of Wales. In an MPs' debate Madeleine Moon called for a suicide prevention strategy for Wales, saying it had a "significantly higher rate than in England". She said it was "striking and shocking" Wales had not set up a strategy. Huw Irranca-Davies, junior Welsh Minister, said "concerted efforts" were being made over the problem. Ms Moon secured the adjournment debate in the Commons following 14 suspected suicides among people under 26 in and around Bridgend over the past year. She said she was concerned the rate of suicide is 35% higher in Wales than in England.
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6 FEBRUARY 2008

UK: Prison for kids is no solution
The conviction of three teenagers for the murder of Garry Newlove, a father of three, has prompted calls for tougher sentences for young offenders. But is prison the solution? Not according to Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children’s Society. “As a society, we seem afraid of our youth and this leads to calls for greater use of custody. The problem is that locking young people up will not stop criminal behaviour,â€Â� he writes in Community Care (Jan 31). He points out that the UK now locks up more children than does almost every other Western European country – nearly 3,000 at any one time, with the number of 15 to 17-year-olds given custodial sentences rising by almost 100 per cent in just ten years. But three quarters reoffend within a year of release. Instead, Reitemeier advocates the use of community sentences and welcomes the intention of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to strengthen and promote their use.
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NY Conference creates solutions to juvenile crime
Officials from across New York State are coming together to try to keep children from becoming a statistic. That was the message at the "Reducing Youth Violence" conference Monday in Colonie. More than 450 educators, children's advocates and elected officials are in town for the three day meeting. Participants say it's about reaching out to leaders across the state to come up with effective, consistent solutions to juvenile crime. "It's about everyone working together. We have to work together. We have to take the money we are receiving and spend it more effectively to deal with our kids that are at risk," said Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings. The conference is being hosted by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and wraps up this Wednesday.
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Rhode Island: Plan to reduce prisoners questioned
Critics yesterday questioned the Carcieri administration’s plans to divert inmates from the state’s adult and juvenile prison facilities as a way of saving money and preventing overcrowding. One proposal calls for increasing the time adult inmates can earn toward early release at the Adult Correctional Institutions. The other would cap the number of children locked up at the state Training School at 148 boys and 12 girls, redirecting others to community-based rehabilitation programs. Both plans were submitted as part of the governor’s midyear budget-cutting bill.
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Teenage gang plague 'six times worse in Glasgow than London'
Glasgow has six times as many teenage gangs as London per capita, according to a report by an influential think tank led by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. The Centre for Social Justice says in its report on deprived cities that Scotland's biggest city is "notorious for its levels of youth and violent crime".It has 170 teenage gangs – the same as London, despite the UK capital having six times the population. Glasgow is a "tale of two cities" in which the eye-catching regeneration of the commercial centre masks social decay elsewhere. The economic renaissance is being blighted by appalling levels of deprivation, which the former Tory leader says is worse than some third-world cities.
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Texas Youth Commission, feds strike deal on treatment of juvenile inmates
The Texas Youth Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed on measures to stop unconstitutional treatment of juvenile inmates at TYC's Evins prison in Edinburg. The agreement, filed Friday in federal court in McAllen, includes a number of actions designed to give "protection from harm" to Evins inmates. Among them: TYC will provide adequately trained staff, will track incidents of assaults against youth and will use "only safe methods of restraint." The agreement was reached after months of negotiation between the Justice Department and TYC. Last March, the Justice Department ruled that conditions at the Evins prison violated the constitutional rights of inmates.
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Florida: Commission calls for more money spent on juvenile-crime prevention
A special commission on juvenile justice today called for state government to spend more money on the front end -- prevention and diversion -- to steer kids away from lives of crime that ultimately land them in Florida's adult prison system. The Bluprint Commission, headed by Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan, made 52 specific recommendations. The 25-member panel, which included law-enforcement and courts officials along with educators and social workers, said there should be specific programs aimed at girls and minority youth. Although the Legislature faces unprecedented revenue shortages when it convenes next month, Governor Kottkamp said Crist is recommending $4.6 million to implement the commission's recommendations. "We can never give up on our young people," said Kottkamp. "The governor believes that a lock-them-up mentality for juvenile justice often makes them worse.... They begin becoming career criminals as teen-agers."
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4 FEBRUARY 2008

Sweden: Mentally ill children locked up with violent adults
Mentally ill children are being systematically locked up with violent adults at several institutions across Sweden. In contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, says children's ombudsman Lena Nyberg to Svenska Dagbladet. The UN Convention of the Rights on the Child stipulates in article 37 that "every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults." Svenska Dagbladet reports that many closed psychiatric departments across Sweden do not follow regulations and at several institutions children are mixed with adults, both systematically and in the case of emergency. The most common explanation is that the children are considered to be too difficult to handle within child and youth psychiatry (BUP). The newspaper writes however that there are several examples of cases where children have been placed with adults due to lack of space or staff resources.
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Wisconsin: Youth Criminals More Likely To Reoffend
A state audit shows the 17-year-olds sent to adult prison in Wisconsin are more likely than adults and younger juveniles to end up back behind bars. The report also found less than half of the roughly 10,500 17-year-olds sentenced to probation between 2002 and 2006 completed it successfully. Wisconsin is one of 10 states that automatically treat 17-year-olds as adults in their criminal justice systems. Some states are reconsidering whether the 17-year-olds belong in the adult system. In a letter responding to the report, state Department of Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch said the audit bureau used data from his agency that may have been more than a year old.
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Kentucky: Family court doors could open
House Bill 421, filed Thursday, is aimed at launching a program in up to seven judicial jurisdictions to study the feasibility of opening some juvenile cases to the public. Specifically, the bill provides for a four-year study of public access to abuse, neglect, dependency and termination of parental rights cases. During the proposed study, participating judges would decide, case-by-case, which hearings to make public. Even then, no recordings of the proceedings or documents from those cases would be made public record. “This is a very safe bill that’s being proposed,� said HB 421’s co-sponsor, Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington. Opening juvenile courts to the public “provides a different level of accountability� for attorneys, social workers and judges of family court, she said. Results of the study would be used in determining whether courts statewide should be opened to the public and what parameters would be set for public access.
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New Zealand: Call for Govt to improve victim rights, services
Fairer treatment of victims in the justice system, including state-funded financial support and counselling, are priorities for the next Government, says Victim Support. Victim Support acting chief executive Heather Verry said “There are many gaps in our services, which limit victims’ ability to participate in the criminal justice system, to seek redress and to receive support for the ongoing physical and emotional impacts of crime.� “Much has been made of how we deal with youth offenders but we seem to have forgotten the victims of these offenders,� said Mrs Verry.
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1 FEBRUARY 2008

Australia: Spending on children in care below average
Funding for children in state care in Victoria has slipped behind the national average as more children than ever come under the child protection radar. Productivity Commission figures show that while nationally there was $336 spent on each child in protective and out-of-home care services, Victoria spent $258 – less than every state except Western Australia. A Government spokesman said the commission figures did not include the money spent on non-government family services that targeted vulnerable children before they entered the system.
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Canada: Local CAS highest percentage deficit in Ontario
The Children’s Aid Society of Northumberland has the highest percentage deficit of the 53 agencies across the province, acknowledges its executive director. Greg Dulmage projects $1.8-million more will be spent at the end of the fiscal year, Mar. 31, 2008, than the $7-million provincial allocation. The local CAS board supports that position, he said in an interview Thursday. The deficit is because “we have the greatest increase in the number of children who have come into care...who are living in staff model homes� not in private, less-expensive foster care, Mr. Dulmage explained. These children have behaviours that are “more difficult� than can be managed in foster care and are in group settings where staff are present, he said.
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California: When Kids Cut Class, Parents Go to Jail
A new program in San Francisco attempts to stem crime before it starts – by keeping elementary school-aged children in school. The repercussions of missing class could be criminal – for their parents. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris recently sent a letter to San Francisco parents in three languages threatening prosecution. The crime: truancy. The charge: contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The sentence: up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Truancy is a serious but little-known problem, Harris said. People are vocal about crime in their communities, she noted, but rarely mention the problem of children not going to school. In San Francisco's there are 5,417 truant students – about 10 percent of the district's total population of 55,000 students – last year. That figure includes both "habitual" truants, those missing at least 10 days of school, and "chronic" truants, absent for 20 or more.
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Netherlands: Legal Prostitution Age May go up to 21
The minimum age for legal prostitution may go up from 18 to 21. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin will have the desirability of this measure investigated. In The Hague, sex bosses themselves have raised the prostitution age to 21 to prevent young girls running into problems. Party for Freedom (PVV) MP Fleur Agema praised that initiative and asked the minister last November to raise the legal age. PVV's plan was earlier rejected by the Lower House. But prostitution 'capital' Amsterdam has meanwhile supported raising the minimum age. "The nature of the profession demands a certain degree of maturity and a higher age goes with this," the city council executive believes. CDA Minister Hirsch Ballin announced yesterday he would consider the measure as part of a "package of measures" whereby the cabinet wants to tackle prostitution more stringently. Youth and Family Minister Andre Rouvoet is also positive on the PVV proposal. Prostitution has been a legal profession in the Netherlands since 2000.
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