Dusty Nix of the Columbus Ledger Enquirer tempers positive news about federal oversight of Georgia’s youth detention system being lifted after 11 years with sobering reminders of why it happened in the first place. Georgia’s system for incarcerating kids was in need of repair in1998 and the state responded accordingly.
In 2005, the state Senate declared the Juvenile Code, the laws governing the treatment of children in the courts, to be in need of repair after more than 30 years on the books. Our leaders have shown they can summon the will to make necessary changes and need to do so once again on this issue. Let’s hope it doesn’t take 11 more years.
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Make sure to visit the JUSTGeorgia Coalition website to learn about the effort to pass legislation that will adopt an updated Juvenile Code. www.justga.org.
Boston has seen the public/private Harlem Children’s Zone and wants to replicate this inner-city swath if the Obama administration is serious about replicating the successful New York program around the country.
It’s gratifying to see how integrating key services – prenatal care, parenting classes, early care and learning – creates a pipeline for success in a place where the odds are stacked against most kids. Voices’ Birth to Five initiative is beating the drum for more support in these individual services, never mind bridging them together.
Private sector support for the Harlem Children’s Zone is lagging now due to the current economy, forcing the organization to pool resources with others. All any of us in the non-profit world can do right now is hang on and hope communities realize the importance of this work.
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