Push to expand program that keeps kids out of jail
Montpelier, Vermont - April 20, 2010
Kimberly Lawrence says after she ran into trouble with the law, her 11-year-old son became angry and depressed and even tried to kill himself. Then she learned about a program that helps kids whose parents have been in jail.
"We started the program, we started snowshoeing... Dylan started being more cheerful, more happy. His anger wasn't as severe," Lawrence said.
Officials say kids of parents with legal problems are at a higher risk to get into trouble themselves. The Community Justice Project in Lamoille County, known as CJP, focuses on prevention. It offers after-school classes on things like teaching healthy eating. Kids are also matched with mentors, given mental health counseling, and taught to give back to their communities. Fifty kids are enrolled at a cost of $3,500 each.
Seven years into the program there's new data about its impact
Click here to read the complete WCAX report
At-risk Vermont youths get help
MONTPELIER -- Across the state, 2.3 percent of youths whose parents have been in prison go on to criminal behavior of their own. It's a way of following in mom's or dad's footsteps that law enforcement officials would love to halt.
Among young people who've taken part in a Lamoille County program to provide them support, however, only 0.10 percent landed in trouble. "This is quite a remarkable outcome," said Bud Meyers, director of the University of Vermont's Jeffords Center, who studied the program's results. In 25 years of studying at-risk youths, he said, "This is among the most-hopeful data I've seen." Click here to read more of this Burlington Free Press article.
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