Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
http://www.gahsc.org
Normer Adams, Editor
___________________________________
Welfare Watch - August 16, 2010 - Children in Need of Services
In these bad economic times it is easy to let the supports to our children and families fray because of the lack of funding. We all know that prevention is virtually always less expensive than a cure. Marian Wright Edelman is fond of saying, "The only universally guaranteed child right is a jail or detention cell after they come in conflict with the law." She advocates that our priorities should be about meeting the needs of children so that they can grow up healthy, educated, nurtured and productive.
Georgia is taking a renewed look at its legal code for juveniles and how it treats juvenile offenders. It is considering eliminating many of the status offenses (crimes that only children can commit) that often put children in jail for such things as truancy, disrespect to authority and running away. In the past, many of these problems would have been handled by the parents, teachers and the community without involvement of the criminal justice system. Many zero tolerance policies of our schools require the arrest of errant youth and give youth criminal records that often puts them on the path to a life of adult crime.
We can do differently. Senate Bill 292 Child Protection and Public Safety Act introduced in the last session of Georgia's General Assembly proposes a concept used in other states called "Children in Need of Services (CHINS)". CHINS would create a family focus approach to identify appropriate services before the child is involved with the juvenile justice system.
In testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Georgia Appleseed Executive Director said, "Labels are not helpful. Labeling a child as a status offender, unruly, ungovernable, doesn't get what is going on in that child's life, that child's family." She advocated an approach that has been very successful in other states at protecting public safety while meeting the needs of very troubled children and families. She pointed to Common Wisdom: Making the Case for a New Georgia Juvenile Code for the wide spread support for changing how Georgia deals with its children.
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Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia
Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
http://www.gahsc.org
Normer Adams, Editor
___________________________________