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News & Views - May, 2000 Issue #69
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TOUGHLOVE STARTED NEW BRANCH
(1997) Toughlove, an organization for parents of troubled adolescents, headquartered in Pennsylvania, started a branch
for parents of grown children due to the perceived increase in the numbers of adult children who remain dependent on their parents
to bail them out of everyday problems of living. The organization has published a manual for parents with financially dependent adult
children and grown kids who are drug dependent or physically or mentally ill. (800-333-1069; $25).
REPORT THAT FEDERAL DOLLARS SKIMMED
(April 4, 2000) The Associated Press reported that a Government Accounting Office audit showed public schools are receiving
as little as a dime on the dollar from “Medicaid reimbursements intended for schools that provide eye tests, speech therapy and other
health services for poor children….” The audit showed “States and consultants are draining millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements...”,
intended to reimburse schools' expenses in those areas.
SCHWAB FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING
(April 7, 2000) Schwab Foundation for Learning has an
active web site. The Foundation claims it is the first and only organization to offer customized information and individual responsiveness
from professional resource consultants, librarians and information specialists online and over the phone for anyone who has concerns
and questions about learning differences.
ALOHA YOUTH ACADEMY’S EX-CEO ARRESTED
(April 8, 2000) The Honolulu Star Bulletin,
in their online edition reported Mekeli Ieremia had “been arrested in Texas for theft in connection with $4.7 million of missing workers’
compensation funds.” Ieremia had been the CEO of Aloha Youth Academy last year in Hawaii, which was closed down for lack of state
licensing. He also had been associated with New Hope Academy in Samoa, also closed down in the middle of controversy.
IDENTIFYING DANGEROUS KIDS
(April 9, 2000) Insight Magazine, in their online edition, reported that Mosaic 2000, a “method’ designed to identify
potentially violent children, is being tested at random in high schools throughout the country.” In an article entitled “Rooting
Out the Bad Seeds?”, author Kelly Patricia O’Meara, views this as a pilot program to identify dangerous kids in public schools
without the knowledge of most parents. The writer asks, “What will the government do with the data?”
PARENTS TALK DRUGS MORE WITH KIDS
(April 10, 2000) The Associated Press reported a study by the Partnership
for a Drug-Free America, that found 57% of parents said “they have spoken with their children at least four times in the past
year about drug use.” This is up from the previous survey done in 1998. They also found “that most often a child’s mother was responsible
for drug education.” The group concluded that “what parents are saying about drugs appears to be sticking.”
ROLOFF HOMES STAFF IN TEXAS ARRESTED
(April 11, 2000) The Washington Post reported, “Texas authorities have arrested two people connected with Roloff Homes,
facilities for troubled teenagers….” “The arrests came after several teenagers complained of abuse at one of the Christian juvenile
facilities, including frequent beatings and what one called ‘sadistic’ punishments severe enough to land him in a hospital.”
MAINSTREAMING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
(April 11, 2000) An Associated Press story reviewing a report released by the U.S. Education Department, reported that
“46 percent of the nation’s 5.9 million special education students spent most of their time in a regular classroom…” up slightly from
last year. It also reported that only “330,000 of the nation’s 2.2 million teaching force are specially hired to teach special education
students….” It also reported “Four out of five teachers with special education students in their classes feel ill-prepared to teach
them….”
YOUTH CRIME AND PUBLIC PERSPECTIVES VARY
(April 11, 2000) The Associated Press reported a study by the Justice Policy Institute and the Children’s Law Center
summarizing that “Youth violence is falling, but more children are paying the price of public fears driven by high-profile school
shootings,” resulting in “harsher punishments for nonviolent or minor offenses.” Included are findings that “7 in 10 Americans think
a school shooting could happen in their communities, but a child has a 1 in 2 million chance of being killed in a U.S. school.” “Youth
homicide arrests dropped 56 percent from 1993 to 1998, but two-thirds of 1,000 people polled by The Washington Post in November said
they believed children were getting more violent.” “Most of the punishments were for what the report called ‘petty acts.” The full
report can be found on the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice's web
site.
DRUG COURTS ANALYZED
(April 19, 2000) YOUTH TODAY, billing themselves as “The Newspaper
on Youth Work,” featured a story on the new court innovation, Drug Courts. Subtitled “The jury is out on whether drug courts are an
innovation, a fad or another widening of the net,” the article notes that from 1989 to 1993, the caseload of juvenile courts grew
23 % to nearly 1.5 million young people. Partly as a response to the increasingly overwhelming numbers, Drug Courts have been established
as a diversion from regular courts and as a better way to use alternatives solutions to jail. The first five drug courts were launched
in 1995; today there are 90 such courts, with 72 more in the works.
Copyright © 2000, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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