To wrap up Youth Justice Awareness Month, we are sharing a family story from Maine. Our hope is that all young people will be given a chance to succeed like Mitch was.

Imagine you’re a parent of four young kids. When the oldest is 11, he starts acting out in ways you aren’t able to manage. Mitch has massive anger outbursts that he takes out on the furniture, walls and cabinets. He discounts all authority. He is angry and aggressive. If asked to do chores, he vehemently refuses and leaves the house for hours. When he sets his eyes on a new toy or electronic, even if it is one you can’t afford, he starts cussing, hitting things and scaring his siblings, so much so that you feel you have to give in. You start to give in so often that you are running through your savings. 

Research shows that grouping troubled teens together creates worse outcomes

In the world of public and school policy to deal with adolescents who engage in antisocial behavior (delinquency, substance abuse) one area that seldom receives the attention it deserves is the side effects of commonly used prevention and intervention strategies. 

Film highlights the dangers of incarcerating youth with adults 

Imagine your 17-year-old daughter got in a school fight with a 16-year-old classmate. Hair pulling, scratching. No weapons involved. What do you think is the appropriate consequence for such behavior? Suspension from school? Grounded? Not allowed to attend the prom or other school activities? What about community service? Restitution? Probation? Think that may be going too far for a youthful mistake? Well, depending on the state you live in, that 17-year-old could be charged with felony child abuse and incarcerated in an adult correctional facility. As a parent, you would have no control over that process.

Natural disasters are no match for MST-ers

Last week, as Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti and moved up the southeastern coast of the US, I found it difficult to pull myself away from the news coverage. Families were left displaced, some were separated, most were shell-shocked. I couldn’t help but cross my fingers and hold my breath. I was immediately taken back to my own experience in the recent Louisiana floods. 

Left: The home of MST supervisor, Myisha Johnson. Right: A flooded gas station

Juvenile justice reform has bipartisan support... If we can move past presidential politics

Typically, our blog is apolitical. We don’t take sides except when it comes to what is best for young people in our society. Then we have an unwavering point of view. First, do no harm. Second, do good and do better. Advocate for change where change is needed.

We are not taking sides today—though we admit to looking forward to the end of this election cycle. 

Unlike the hot-button issues of tax, immigration and healthcare, juvenile justice reform has bipartisan support. 

So regardless of who wins in November, we hope our elected officials can get back to working on overhauling the juvenile justice system.  

A look behind the euphemisms that proliferate the system

Imagine that you are sitting in court with your teenage son or daughter. The judge orders your child to six months living in a "training school" to address the concerns of the court. What would you imagine that to be? Something like a military school or a boot camp? A cluster of cabins in the woods where kids do ropes courses and practice trust falls?

The truth is that most training schools are thinly veiled youth prisons. Commonly referred to as "secure placements," they are actually cinder-block buildings behind barbed-wire where children wear orange jumpsuits, rubber shoes and handcuffs. They live in cellblocks and behind bars, get limited contact with their families and are at high risk of sexual and physical abuse. There is an intentional glazing over of the horrors within these facilities, under-reporting of crimes against young people behind bars and a number of creative euphemisms aimed at shielding us from the truth. 

Organizers are asking you to take action 

The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is a national initiative dedicated to ending the prosecution, sentencing and incarceration of youth younger than 18 in the adult criminal justice system. 

CFYJ was started in 2004 by a distraught parent whose juvenile son was prosecuted in adult criminal court. The mother became determined to change policies that allow hundreds of thousands of youths to be tried in adult court every year. And she put her money where her heart was. Her actions led to the Campaign for Youth Justice officially opening in July 2005.

Your mother was right—Who you hang out with influences what you do

I remember when I was growing up, the youngest of 11 children, my mother would tell me not to hang out with "those kids," the wrong crowd, the ones who would get me in trouble. And of course, I would protest, "No, they won’t. They are my friends." Then, inevitably, they did. Nothing too major, just enough that I knew my friends had a big influence on me. 

It turns out that research shows my mother was right. When looking at the predictors of anti-social behavior, "negative peer association" is the most powerful one, making it a high-risk factor for the teens we work with in Multisystemic Therapy (MST).

Multisystemic Therapy helps Mum rebuild her relationship with son

For many years, Lara felt that she had no voice in her own home. Even though she was the mum, Lara was overwhelmed by her son Harry’s aggressive outbursts, using drugs and alcohol, and not going to school. Lara often felt she couldn't manage her 'unmanageable' child and had no choice but to call the police on Harry. This left her feeling ashamed, embarrassed and she couldn’t see her way out.

You got your degree... Now what?

After graduating from university, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. The only thing I was 100-percent certain about was that I wanted to work with children and families and make a real difference. After a few short-term jobs, a friend, who was a juvenile-probation officer, told me about a new program called Multisystemic Therapy (MST) that really seemed to be helping out kids, and they were hiring. The description seemed to match just what I was looking for, so I applied that day to be an MST therapist and never looked back. 

Amy King, left, and Sandy Crotts, right, at MST's 20 year anniversary