Youth in the News
Volume 2, Number 13, July 1-15, 2007
Contents
State Watch
Research
Government
STATE WATCH
- The city of Chicago launches an anti-violence campaign.
- In Chandler, Arizona, the police gang enforcement unit is teaming up with a local non-profit to lure kids away from drugs, violence and organized crime.
- There is concern among Illinois youth prison workers that a new rule requiring guards to carry a cutting tool in case young inmates try to hang themselves compromises their safety.
- A successful prevention program for youth in the Navajo Nation has become a model for other organizations and communities.
- The merging of two mental health facilities in Toledo, Ohio, will allow a continuum of care for youth as they become adults.
RESEARCH
- A new research and program brief provides an overview of trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system, including strategies for addressing it.
- New research suggests that alcohol-industry sponsored “responsible drinking” messages are usually overlooked or ignored by teens.
- A new study ranks state youth driving deaths rates.
GOVERNMENT
- A bill in the Connecticut Legislature will temporarily move the responsibility for truancy cases from judges to probation officers.
- A bill introduced in Congress would prohibit the U.S. Postal Services from shipping cigarettes and other tobacco products.
- A new law that moved 17-year-old offenders into the adult court system isn’t saving as much money as Rhode Island policymakers anticipated.
- The Governor of Massachusetts signed the budget bill that included an increase for LGBT and HIV/AIDS services and vetoed the federal abstinence-only education grant.
- Hundreds of former foster care youth may lose transition services due to Rhode Island’s new budget.
- Vermont becomes the 9th state to fund foster care past the age of 18.
- The Florida Legislature passes a bill creating a children’s cabinet.
- Several state legislatures have passed legislation mandating steroid testing for high school athletes.
ARTICLES
CHICAGO
City of Chicago Launches Anti-Violence Campaign
July 13, 2007
By Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services, Earthtimes.org
In an effort to ensure that Chicagoans make their voices heard against community violence, the Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services (CYS) joined city officials and community and faith-based leaders today to launch Faces Against Violence, a three-month campaign, part of Mayor Richard M. Daley's "Safe Summer" initiative.
"Chicago's children and youth are our greatest natural resource, our future. The City of Chicago is committed to protecting and nurturing our young people and to create opportunities for them to live healthy and positive lives," Mary Ellen Caron, Ph.D., CYS Commissioner, said at a press conference at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park & Family Entertainment Center, 1219 W. 76th St. "Encouraging its citizens to resist violence is obviously at the very heart of that mission," she added.
Commissioner Caron was joined by 17th Ward Alderman Latasha Thomas, Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Park District, Richard Butler, community and faith-based leaders, as well as community representatives who had been impacted by violence. Following the press conference, children and adults were treated to a free day of roller skating to help kick off the program and promote safe summer activities.
Faces Against Violence encourages Chicagoans to take a stand against violence by having their photos taken and reciting a peace pledge. The initiative includes 60 locations, at least one per ward, in July, August and September. These participation opportunities will take place at community events citywide, including health fairs, festivals and Movies in the Park. There will be on-site celebrity appearances with the support of Clear Channel radio stations (WGCI, WVAZ, WGRB, WLIT, WNUA and WKSC). The campaign will also receive support from Spanish radio stations, including Spanish Broadcasting Corporation's WLEY and Univision radio's WOJO. All of them will provide on-air support, events and advertising.
With Clear Channel's help, a colorful "Peace Van" will travel to the neighborhood events where attendees can receive copies of the peace pledge, CDs, a list of resources and "We Call Police" window signs. In August, a series of billboards will be placed throughout Chicago featuring the faces of program participants. Pictures also will be posted on all of the stations websites and on Clear Channel's antiviolence blog, allowing individuals to share personal stories of how crime and violence have impacted their lives. Youth will be able to share their stories also on video. Throughout the summer a project of the Community TV Network will involve youth videotaping youth. They will ask people how they have made a positive impact in their community by curbing violence. The videos will be posted on YouTube in the fall.
Specifically, Faces Against Violence is designed to: promote peace and prevent further youth involvement in violence by encouraging peaceful conflict resolution; advance respect for the City of Chicago and all of its residents; and to ask children, youth and adults to become the peaceful change they wish to see in their city.
"We understand that the problem about violence is systemic and difficult to solve, but this campaign is meant to raise awareness that we can all help," said Caron. "If everybody does their part we can reduce the problem significantly."
Children and families will be asked to sign the following pledge (abbreviated version): "Today I will use my power to build a safe and peaceful Chicago. Today I will act with respect for myself and others by giving up threats, violence and guns. Today I will act to build a stronger community. Today I will be the change I want to see in Chicago."
The pledge was a collaboration among several members of Chicago's Peace Museum, including: Dr. Mark Mattaini, Peace Museum Board Member and Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work; Melissa McGuire, MPH, Director, The Peace Museum; and Marjorie Benton, Founder, The Peace Museum and the Chicago Foundation for Women.
For more information, visit -- http://www.wgci.com/. High resolution photos available upon request Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services
ARIZONA
Police, non-profit youth group team to fight gangs
July 12, 2007
By Edythe Jensen, Azcentral.com
Chandler is beefing up its police gang enforcement and teaming with a local non-profit to lure kids away from drugs, violence and organized crime.
"The gang members in Chandler today aren't wearing colors. They've learned that makes them easily identifiable by police and they want to fly under the radar," said Gang sergeant Greg Howarth.
His unit was formed in January, a month after 19-year-old Lindsay Key was killed in the crossfire of a downtown gang shooting. Next month, the number of Chandler detectives assigned to gang enforcement will double, from two to four, he said.
It is uncertain how many gang members live in Chandler, but Howarth said they are nearly all Hispanic, loosely organized, and claim ties to southern California. Members commit thefts and assaults, intimidate victims and treat women as property, he said. Many of the victims are too afraid to complain.
Because gang members can be difficult to spot, police rely on tips from students, school officials and residents, Howarth said. "People usually know the boys and girls who live in their neighborhoods," he said. "When they see large groups of kids they don't know congregating after 10 p.m. where they don't belong and playing loud music, it's time that we make contact."
At least twice a month, Christy McClendon, director for the youth group ICAN, steps into the passenger seat of a police car and searches the streets of Chandler for vulnerable youths.
Both say it seems to be working. "We don't have the resources or the time to do this kind of prevention," Howarth said of the ICAN program. While he and his detectives chat with teens to build intelligence files and catch those who break laws, McClendon sells them on after-school and summer programs.
"We know from research that the highest times for juvenile delinquency is 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and school breaks - times when children are out of school and their parents aren't home," she said. "Our focus is to fill the gap."
They do it in a small building at 201 S. Washington St.; vans pick up those who live too far to walk.
Since she started riding with police four months ago, McClendon said ICAN program attendance has increased 50 percent. Nearly half of the teenagers she meets on the street wind up coming to the non-profit, swelling daily attendance to 120 so far this summer, McClendon said.
The program, funded by grants and donations, is more than games, snacks and a safe place to go. Started in 1991 as a gang-prevention tool, ICAN uses modern education methods to steer children away from drugs and crime, McClendon said.
The old "scared straight" methods have been abandoned because they don't work, she said. Classes now teach youths how to build social skills, manage their lives and resist peer pressure. They talk about how to deal with anger and anxiety, how to resist drugs and create a positive support system.
"We teach the risks and harms of substance abuse and gangs," she said.
Howarth said he is encouraged by ICAN's influence and wants to do more, perhaps with additional help from schools or other groups.
"We would like to take it to the next level, reach those who are is hanging out with a gang and want out. We are looking at what else we can do," he said.
Howarth and McClendon, are taking their message to residents at 6 p.m. Thursdayin the Sunset Branch Library, 4930 W. Ray Road.
ILLINOIS
Prison Union Says "No" to Carrying Tool
By Shawn Smetana, wsiltv.com
A decision by the department of Juvenile justice is causing an uproar at youth prisons in Southern Illinois. Guards are now required to carry a cutting tool to use if inmates try to hang themselves. Security officers say the move puts lives in danger, "It's a weapon, it can be used as a weapon" says Murphysboro Youth Center Guard Nathan Dillow.
The debate is whether or not the device, called a fold-out cutter, can be used as a weapon. Department of Juvenile Justice spokesman Derek Schnapp says no. But guards at local facilities say it makes a dangerous job even more difficult.
Dillow has stood guard at the youth camp for eight and a half years. Since Juvenile Justice split with the department of corrections last year, Dillow says working conditions continue to get worse. "We enjoy our jobs we like our jobs the problem is zero communication," Dillow said.
Dillow says decisions made by department heads are done so without input from front line staffers. Recently, juvenile justice ordered all guards to carry the device which until now was heavily guarded. Dillow says the tool was under lock and key in a command center manned 24 hours a day.
Dillow says the juvenile offenders could use this as a weapon against guards or other inmates. "You take my thumb off with the curved part, remember inmates aren't here because they did what they were supposed to on the streets," Dillow said.
Union officials say violence at youth camps is on the rise. A guard at the Harrisburg Youth center says in January, two inmates jumped her from behind and nearly choked her to death. Dillow says the next time an attack occurs- the inmates could be armed
Juvenile justice says the cutting tool is used at prisons around the country. Spokesman Derek Schnapp says having the device handy can save lives when seconds count.
NAVAJO NATION
Mission: Keep kids in school
Gallup's secret: National Indian Youth Leadership Project
By Natasha Kaye Johnson, gallupindependent.com
It was 1982, and McClellan Hall was the principal at Stillwell Academy, an alternative school for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
Before coming a principal, he was a social studies teacher, but as a principal, he had high hopes that he could make an impact on the high drop out rates in Native American children. During his time as a principal, the drop-out rate of students making the transition from middle school to high school hovered at 70 percent.
It wouldn't take long for him to realize that his vision to implement effective programs would be limited by the red tape of school boards and testing standards.
"I just got frustrated," said Hall, a Cherokee from Oklahoma who founded the National Indian Youth Leadership Project organization. "I quit my real job and started this nonprofit."
For two years, Hall worked on a small scale, and created a youth camp that centered around outdoor adventure, service-learning, and leadership. He constructed a camp ideal for children in the seventh and eighth grade, since that was the age range where most youth dropped out of school.
The camp was working out well, but two years after he started it, his wife, who is Navajo, was anxious to come home.
"She said, 'I'm moving back, you can come if you want to,'" he laughs, recalling.
Hall knew that he wanted to keep the camp going even it is wasn't in Cherokee Country, so when he first arrived in Gallup, he put together the first camp with some Navajo and Zuni students, incorporating the same three areas of development he did in Oklahoma.
"We had nothing when I first started," said Hall, who was an outdoors instructor for the camp in its first years. "We went for a couple of years without a lot of money coming in."
But slowly, the camp evolved into a year-round program and the approach gathered momentum during the 1990s, becoming the most effective prevention program in the country.
Not an average camp
"We're not just like a typical camp," said Sonlasta Jim-Martin, manager for NIYLP. "We have high-level challenge courses."
That was evident last Saturday as students participated in the 25th annual summer camp. The eight-day camp in the foothills of Mount Taylor had about 60 students from around the United States. Students were broken into groups, and were participating in several activities from a high ropes challenge courses to helping build an adobe amphitheater in the shape of a turtle.
"I love it," said Michael Gooch, a 13-year old Hawaiian Native from Waiianae on Oahu Island. "Socially, it boosted me because to we got meet a lot of people. It made me feel good about myself again."
Gooch identified herself as an "orphan" and said she was selected to participate in the program from the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center Waianae Unit in Hawaii.
Teatta Plummer, 12, of Gallup, is a second-year attendee of the program. She talked about her favorite part of the camp while helping to reconstruct the turtle shaped adobe amphitheater where the camp hosts traditional storytelling and talent shows.
"I like repelling because you can out-fear what you were scared of, like heights," she said.
Jim-Martin said there's a lot of thought put behind each project offered. For example, the building of the turtle amphitheater includes troubleshooting that involves geology, knowledge of adobe, and teamwork.
Neal Feris, experimental educator and manager, has been working with the organization for five years, and explained how the activities prepare them for life's hurdles.
"We try to allow them to realize that they have choices," said Feris, in-between encouraging words to a student trying to make his way through the high-ropes course. "It's physically and emotionally challenging for some kids and its spiritually challenging. They show a lot of problem solving skills."
"I went through tough times trying to overcome obstacles (as a kid)," said Rick Quam, another experimental educator. "I felt this could have helped."
"Not only are they challenging their bodies, they're challenging their minds," Jim-Martin said.
The emphasis of culture is another important element of the camp. The placement of the program on one of the area's four sacred mountains is also very deliberate, and students are explained the significance of the mountain when they first arrive at the camp.
"It allows them to know their culture and embrace other cultures," Jim-Martin said.
The whole idea of the projects is also to help make the students resilient, especially since high-risk behaviors are more common in Native children when compared to other groups. The organization also brings in elders to talk to the youth.
"I really believe all Native kids are high-risk," Hall said.
Among other group actives that promote life skills, students are also educated about healthy eating habits at the camp, where diabetes prevention is indirectly taught.
National recognition and awards
One thing that separates NIYLP from other programs is that the approach is strictly a positive one.
"There are no lectures," Hall said.
Starting in the mid-1980s, the organization gained recognition and funding from entities like the Office of Indian Education, and the Center for Substance Abuse grant, even though the program used an indirect approach to promoting education and drug and alcohol prevention.
Over the years, it would become recognized as one of the Milestone Programs of the WK Kellogg Foundation, for their 75th Anniversary celebration. Only a few years ago, it was recognized by the First Nations Behavioral Health Association as one of their most Effective Models and Practices for Children of Color.
The organization's Project Venture program was recognized with the Exemplary, Promising, Effective and Model Program Award, and is the only Native American program to reach model program status. Several adaptations of the program have been developed, like the Walking in Beauty program that focuses on positive development in adolescent Navajo girls.
Today, in addition to developing programs, NIYLP works as a consultant to tribal, and Hawaiian and Alaska Native organizations across the United States who want to start a program that models their organization. Their Project Venture program currently has over 70 replication sites in 20 states.
"They want to start something that tailors to the community and to their budget," Jim-Martin said.
NIYLP operates on a budget of about $1 million a year with half coming from federal grants and the other half from private foundations, but Jim-Martin said communities are able to replicate the program with a limited budget.
Tribal organizations aren't the only ones trying to replicate the program. One organization is working toward developing the program for Hispanic migrant worker children and another is developing a similar program for Iraqi youth who live in Detroit.
With their only office located in Gallup, the program has blossomed in the McKinley County School District and at local BIA schools as an in-school and after-school program, and has about 700 students.
Growing and Expanding
With the success of NIYLP, some people have suggested to Hall that he start a school, but after much discussion and thought, Hall and the organizations board have decided to expand the program instead.
"We're working with more kids than we could if we had a school," Hall said. "The schools are limited ... they can't do some of this stuff."
"We have total flexibility," Hall said. "We have kids who come to school because they have to go in order to be in the after-school program."
While the word "national" is within their title, Hall said they are actually not recognized as a national organization. But he hopes to change that.
"We're focusing on truly becoming a national organization," Hall said.
The organization is working with a business consulting firm based in San Francisco to develop a strategy to begin implementing the program nationwide. They plan to have satellite offices in big cities, like Albuquerque.
"We're going to keep our main headquarters in Gallup," Hall said.
"NIYLP is one of Gallup's biggest secrets," Jim-Martin said.
But Hall said that they decided long ago that the program would not do any self-promotion of any kind until they had "everything in line."
"We always say we're lucky Mac married a Navajo because we got to have this program in Gallup," Jim-Martin joked.
When asked whether he ever planned on becoming such a widely recognized model program, Hall didn't hesitate to answer.
"We never really thought about it," Hall said. "We were just trying to do a quality program and we worked really hard at it."
OHIO
Merger to facilitate care for mental health clients
July 5, 2007
By Robin Erb, toledoblade.com
After 33 years of working independently from one another but often serving the same clients, two of Toledo's mental health care agencies have merged.
Connecting Point, which works with some of the area's most troubled and mentally ill youth, joined with Zepf Center, which provides the same services but to those over 18.
On Sunday, Zepf became a division of Connecting Point.
While the merger means a change in the letterhead and a combined management staff, heads of both agencies say the marriage will mean seamless care for clients aging out of Connecting Point and into the adult mental-health system.
Even in the best cases, teenagers miss appointments and they don't follow through with plans, so clients often are lost as they transition into the adult system, Jeff Deckebach, Con-necting Point's chief executive officer, said.
"There's a population that clearly needs to be carefully managed from childhood services to adult services," he said.
A strapped budget first drove Zepf's plans to merge with another agency, said Frank Ayers, whose retirement as Zepf's interim director was effective with the merger.
"When I was hired by Zepf … one of my responsibilities was to get us on solid financial ground," he said.
Four agencies were interested in Zepf's proposal, but from the outset it was clear that Connecting Point and Zepf had the same mission. It also made business sense, Mr. Ayers and Mr. Deckebach said.
Many of Connecting Point's young clients had parents who were served by Zepf and, likewise, some clients at Zepf had children who were referred to Connecting Point.
For the most part, the public won't notice an immediate change, officials said. Most employees will remain. Offices will stay where they are.
But by trimming management positions - there's no reason to have two chief executive officers, for example - the agencies hope to divert more than $450,000 back to direct services.
Ultimately, clients aging out of Connecting Point may seek services elsewhere as an adult, but the partnership also offers Zepf's employment assistance program, said Larry Wanucha, a Zepf board member and client.
Employment is critical to mentally ill clients, and the job program is another way to transition them from youth into adulthood, said Mr. Wanucha, who as a teenager began to struggle with mental illness.
At 51 years old now, he's a housing support specialist at Neighborhood Properties Inc. and a graduate student. He will continue to serve on the newly merged board of directors.
The merger will offer the continuity of care so critical to treatment, he said.
"There's no cure for mental illness, but recovery is possible," Mr. Wanucha said.
TRAUMA
Brief Reviews Trauma Among Youth in Juvenile Justice System
The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice has published "Trauma Among Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: Critical Issues and New Directions."
This research and program brief provides an overview of trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system, including its scope and impact; and reviews tools, curricula and approaches for addressing trauma among justice-involved youth. Issues related to implementing trauma services within the juvenile justice system context are also discussed.
Resources:
The above brief is available online at http://www.ncmhjj.com/pdfs/Trauma_and_Youth.pdf.
RESPONSIBLE DRINKING
Industry Alcohol Warnings Overlooked by Teens
July 11, 2007
Research Summary, jointogether.org
Alcohol-industry sponsored "responsible drinking" messages are usually overlooked or ignored by teens, according to researchers at Brigham Young University.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported July 7 that researchers tracked the eye movements of middle-school students (average age: 13) who were instructed to read a series of alcohol ads that included "responsible drinking" messages, albeit in small print.
The teens spent an average of seven seconds looking at each ad, but only 0.35 seconds looking at the warnings. Bottles, product names, models and headlines got most of their attention. Asked about the moderation messages immediately after viewing the ads, most youths could not remember the general thrust of the warnings.
"Basically, the adolescents, they don't really see the responsibility message," said lead researcher Steven Thomsen. "Those who see it, do (so) for a minimal time."
"It's nice the responsibility messages are included. The question is, 'Are they effective?'" Thomsen said. "If they are not effective, what can we do to make them more effective?"
A spokesperson for the Distilled Spirits Council, an industry trade group, said the study was flawed because it used teen subjects, whereas the ads are intended for adults.
The study is published in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
YOUTH DRIVING DEATHS
Iowa third in percentage of youth driving deaths
July 2, 2007
By Todd Dorman, Globegazette.com
Iowa ranked third in the nation in 2005 for the percentage of deadly highway accidents involving drivers age 16 to 20, according to a study released Monday.
The figures were compiled by two physicians’ groups — End Needless Death on Our Roadways, or END, and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
They found that 19.56 percent of fatal accidents in Iowa during 2005 involved 16 to 20-year-old drivers, a rate that trailed only Maine and Delaware.
But that percentage also represents a decline compared to 2004, when 20.26 percent of fatal crashes in the state involved teens. Iowa ranked 25th in 2004.
Nationally, 16.52 percent of deadly accidents in 2005 involved young drivers, down from 20.02 percent in 2004.
“We are cautiously optimistic regarding the improvement in national youth-related driving fatalities from 2004 to 2005. However, the number of people dying in crashes involving young drivers has simply not decreased significantly in recent years,” said Dr. Tom Esposito, co-chair of END.
In Iowa, state officials insist roadways are safer for young drivers since state lawmakers put graduated licensing limits on 16-year-olds in 1999.
But improvement isn’t coming fast enough. Officials say accident figures like the ones cited in Monday’s study show the need for even tougher restrictions.
Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals agrees.
“We’ve responded to a lot of accident involving young people,” said Pals.
“We’re not real tickled about going to accidents where young, inexperienced drivers have been involved.”
The Iowa Department of Transportation wants lawmakers to increase the amount of time teens are required to practice driving with parents and reduce nighttime hours when teens can legally drive.
Officials also want to further restrict the number of passengers who can ride with a new driver, require all vehicle occupants to wear seatbelts and prohibit the use of cell phones while driving.
Pals said anything officials can do to offer more experience and better driving habits will be helpful.
“A lot has to do with changes in technology, for instance. Cell phone usage, PDAs, iPods, all these are distractions that might be in your vehicle,” said Dena Gray-Fisher, spokesperson for the DOT.
Since the state’s graduated driver’s license law took affect, crashes involving 16-year-old drivers have declined by 37 percent while traffic citations have dropped by more than 50 percent, according to the DOT.
Still, more than 40,000 drivers age 16 to 24 were injured in crashes between 2000 2005.
Lawmakers, however, have been reluctant to approve new restrictions.
In 2006, legislation championed by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack banning cell phone use and placing other limits on teen drivers was scrapped. Several key lawmakers were contacted by parents who argued that placing limits on teen driving should be their decision, not the Legislature’s
The issue did not come up during the 2007 legislative session. Sen. Steve Warnstadt, D-Sioux City, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, isn’t convinced that will change in 2008.
“I’m sure it will be something that some members will be looking at. Whether there’s enough consensus to pursue it very far, I don’t know,” Warnstadt said.
CONNECTICUT
Director believes new law will flood the Youth Services Bureau with delinquents
July 4, 2007
By Fran Morales, Newbritainherald.com
A bill passed last Wednesday by the House of Representatives could spell trouble for the city's Youth Service Bureau.
The bill, which lasts a year and takes effect Oct. 1, says judges will no longer be able to lock up truant youth, but instead cases must be handled by probation officers who may send offenders to family support centers for mental health treatment.
The legislation also allocates about $3.2 million in family support center funding only to the state's four largest cities - Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven - and their court districts.
New Britain was left out.
"When a judge can't place a child in a residential or locked facility, no matter how bad they are ... it leaves the community, the Youth Service Bureau and local providers to deal with these kids," said Christopher Montes, director of the city's Youth Service Bureau, who worries the bureau will be overburdened by the number of people with Families With Service Needs and wonders how the city will handle its at-risk youth.
Debra Fuller, director of external affairs for the state's judicial branch, would not confirm how the state funding would be divided.
But she rejected Montes' concerns.
"People can speculate what might happen ... it remains to be seen," she said.
Fuller would not comment on how New Britain would be affected by the state's decision or the city's lack of funds this fiscal year, but did say New Britain would get additional state funds next year to build family support centers.
The community-based programs already in place will help prevent children from having further involvement with the courts and juvenile detention centers, she said.
Most of the affected youth are already integrated into the community, and most are not juvenile delinquents, she said, with only a few extreme cases now being put into juvenile detention centers or group homes.
"A FWSN child normally has committed a status offense, not crimes that would be committed by an adult," she said, describing a status offense as committed by "a child who has not broken the law, but has been referred to by their behavior as beyond parental control, truant or runaway."
In the past, for instance, it was a delinquent act when an at-risk youth didn't obey court orders, Fuller said.
The Common Council voted unanimously June 27 to give the city's Youth Service Bureau $72,244 for its next fiscal year, making up some of the state shortfall.
Despite the city's efforts, Montes said he fears for the families his agency helps. He blames the state for underfunding services and failing to pay for new demands.
"Seeing that the major court districts are getting funding, that leaves the rest of the cities like New Britain, which serves a great deal of kids, to deal with greater numbers of kids," he said. "The question is, what are we going to do for a year?"
About 289 FWSN youth were referred by New Britain Superior court in 2005, according to state figures. In Connecticut, almost 2,000 juveniles were admitted to detention centers. Fifty-two percent of them had a prior FWSN referral in their court history, with Hartford and New Haven having the most cases.
New Britain's Juvenile Probation office declined to comment on the matter and would not supply the the number of juvenile delinquents handled annually by New Britain Superior Court.
Montes said the number of probation cases will climb as a result of the legislation, making it more difficult for officers to do their job.
Children who don't get the help they need just get worse, winding up in the criminal justice system and needing more serious mental health help, Montes said.
Fuller said that if all other measures have been exhausted and a child is an imminent threat to himself or herself or others, the courts could place him or her in a staff-secured facility or group homes run by the state Department of Children and Families.
Despite this, and the city's help, Montes is concerned.
"We now know that this earthquake has occurred, and we are waiting for the tsunami," Montes said.
CONGRESS
Bill Targets Online Cigarette Sellers
Study Finds Convenience Stores Also a Prime Source of Smokes for Kids
July 11, 2007
By Truman Lewis, Consumeraffairs.com
A New York Congressman, John M. McHugh (R), has introduced a measure that would outlaw the shipping of cigarettes and other tobacco products via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), while a new study fingers convenience stores as a leading cause of smokes for youths.
The Internet-Postal Service connection is the primary source of cigarettes for many minors, McHugh noted. All major commercial shippers have stopped accepting tobacco, but the USPS has taken no action on its own to protect children from cigarette addiction.
"The Postal Service has allowed itself to become a tool of the Internet and mail-order tobacco trade," said James Calvin, President of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The legislation has received strong endorsements from health groups and small business organizations such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, and the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
According to an American Journal of Public Health study, almost 20 percent of the tobacco sales websites do not say anything about prohibiting sales to minors, more than half require only that the buyer indicate they are of legal age, another 15 percent require only that the buyer type in their date of birth, and only 7 percent require any driver’s license information.
State and local governments have lost more than a billion dollars per year in taxes evaded by online tobacco sellers.
All three major shipping companies -- DHL, FedEx, and UPS -- have stopped shipping cigarettes nationwide. As a result, all internet tobacco vendors are using the USPS to make their deliveries, McHugh noted.
Congress alone has jurisdiction over what is delivered via U.S. mail, and because of this inconsistent policy, states face a significant loophole in their tax enforcement policy.
Convenience Stores
But while convenience store operators are applauding McHugh's measure, a study suggests many stores aren't doing much on their own to keep cigarettes away from minors.
Clerks who work in convenience stores that sell gasoline are the most likely to sell tobacco to minors, according to a study appearing in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“We were surprised that gas-convenience stores were at highest risk for tobacco sales,” said lead author Dave Pearson, of the Group Health Community Foundation in Seattle.
When compared to other retailers such as restaurants, bars and tobacco discount stores, convenience stores selling gas sold the most tobacco products during random checks, according to the study.
To cut down smoking among young people, most states use “youth operatives” to measure compliance with state age requirements. The researchers analyzed data from 8,879 such compliance checks done throughout King County in Washington State between January 2001 and March 2005. Ninety-one youth operatives, ages 14 to 17, conducted the checks.
By checking whether “a sale was made” to a minor, the study found overall underage tobacco sales were 7.7 percent for the study period. Convenience stores selling gas had 9.3 percent of sales, compared with 3.4 percent for tobacco stores, 5.2 percent for restaurants and 7.4 percent for grocery stores.
Pearson said there might be something about gas stations that results in lack of attention to the age requirements. It could be the combination of customers wanting to get in and out fast and clerks being required to multi-task; for example, watching the counter and gas pumps while making financial transactions.
The authors also found that clerks under 18 had “very high” sales to minors, as did female clerks. However, sales to minors dropped when the clerk asked for ID or age of the buyer.
Pearson said to keep tobacco sales to minors low, states must continue to educate retailers and emphasize the importance of asking people to state their age and show ID. The federal government also offers states an incentive to comply.
“The federal Synar Amendment requires states to implement compliance check systems to verify that youth tobacco sales stay below 20 percent to receive federal substance abuse prevention and treatment dollars,” Pearson said.
Danny McGoldrick, vice president of research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, agrees that compliance checks are important.
“The more compliance checks you do, the more compliance you get, which makes it harder for kids to get cigarettes and sends a consistent message about the product,” he said.
“Having an age requirement law on the books isn’t enough, however,” McGoldrick added. “You have to enforce it with regular compliance checks and meaningful penalties [fines] because, unfortunately, it’s all these vendors understand.”
RHODE ISLAND
Child advocates blast law sending 17-year-olds to ACI
The purpose of the measure was to save money - but it may cost more
July 12, 2007
By Jim Baron, zwire.com
When they changed the law to subject 17-year-olds to adult courts and the ACI, state officials acknowledged that the only reason for doing so was to save money - it costs twice as much (about $90,000 a year), they say, to keep an inmate in the state training school as it does to incarcerate the average prisoner at the ACI (about $40,000 a year).
That was the theory.
When it was put into practice, Corrections Director A.T.
Wall determined that the only way to keep the 17-year-olds safe was to hold them at the most secure section of the prison - the so-called Supermax. The problem that has arisen, youth advocates say, is that it costs about the same amount to keep a prisoner at the high-security Supermax (about $100,000 a year) as it does to keep one at the Training School.
That, asserts Elizabeth Burke Bryant, who led a Rhode Island Youth Justice Coalition press conference outside the Supermax on Wednesday, "evaporates the cost savings that was the premise for this plan."
As a result, she told reporters, the coalition will try to convince policymakers in the governor's office, DCYF, the Department of Corrections and the General Assembly to get the new procedure reversed and return all but the most serious and violent 17-year-old offenders back to the juvenile justice system and the State Training School.
"We have hope that this will be turned around," Burke Bryant said, "we know that our policymakers will listen and hopefully make a decision. This is a huge policy change for Rhode Island and it was done on the false premise that there would be a cost savings. Young people do not belong in high security. We will do whatever it takes to ultimately turn this around."
That may be easier said than done.
Spokesmen for both Gov. Donald Carcieri and House Speaker William Murphy told The Times Wednesday that the program needs to be given more time to determine whether it can be done in a way that will achieve cost savings.
Asked how the state got itself into a situation where it took an admittedly drastic step to save money, only to find that it might not save any money after all, each side pointed at the other.
"It was the governor's proposal," said Larry Berman, spokesman for the House leadership. "They brought testimony that it would save money and the House Finance Committee went along."
As for the possibility of a reversal, Berman said, "This is only the second week in July. We have to wait and see if it is going to save money. When the budget is proposed next year, if they want to revise it," the administration can recommend doing so. But, he added, "Where it stands, there are no plans at present to revise it."
"A.T. Wall doesn't have to put kids in protective custody," Berman said.
Berman pointed out that Wall came before the House Finance Committee to discuss the corrections department budget and never mentioned there would be extra costs involved in incarcerating 17-year-olds at the ACI.
Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal noted that, "the recommendation in the governor's budget was one side of a two-sided proposal."
"The governor also proposed to reduce the inmate population at the ACI, that would have allowed the Department of Corrections to find a less expensive way to hold 17-year-olds," Neal said, but those proposed reforms never won General Assembly approval. "Once they chose not to enact the reforms to reduce the inmate population, it became much more difficult than anticipated" to accommodate the 17-year-olds at the ACI.
But when asked about making changes anytime soon, Neal's response was close to Berman's.
"We are at the beginning of a process to evaluate what can be done given the results of the legislative session," he said, adding that it will take time "before we will know how much savings can be achieved. It is much more responsible to know what the facts are before plotting a course of action."
Asked about Burke Bryant's contention that 17-year-old offenders are technically children and are by law entitled to education and other benefits not readily available at the Super Max, Neal said, "the entire intention from the beginning was to go through a process by which we developed all systems necessary" for dealing with the young prisoners while at the same time saving money for taxpayers.
That is what is being done now, Neal said.
Greg Pare, spokesman for Senate President Joseph Montalbano, said the Senate passed a plan proposed by West Warwick Sen. Stephen Alves to divert young offenders away from the Training School and into community treatment slots that are available and funded.
That plan was applauded by Burke Bryant and other advocates such as Brother Michael Reis of Tides Family Services.
While Rhode Island was passing the law to put 17-year-olds in the adult justice system, Connecticut was going about returning its 16 and 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system after several years of being one of only three states that treated them as adults.
Abby Anderson, senior policy associate for the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, said that after a two year study they determined that "incorporating 16- and 17-year-old youth into the juvenile justice system will not only promote public safety in Connecticut by fostering positive youth development but it will also, in the long run, cost state taxpayers less than handling this distinct category of youth in the adult criminal justice system.
"This is going to generate violence in our society," warned Teny Gross, of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, "and therefore the costs and destruction. This stands out as the top bad policy for this past legislative session."
Child Advocate Jametta Alston asserted that, "the policies that passed showed that the people who developed them didn't think the children that would fit into this category mattered. These children matter. These children are important. These children have families and lives and dreams and hopes that will be shattered and broken when you place them in facilities like this," she said pointing to the Super Max. "Because this facility is not designed to give children a new hope, a new future, a new beginning."
"The issue has always been about money," said Steven Brown of the R.I. Affiliate of the ACLU, "to our knowledge, nobody promoting this proposal has ever suggested that this represents good or progressive public policy or that there is something good about slapping all 17-year-olds with a criminal record that cold follow and haunt them for years after the offense is dealt with.
"It is not worth sacrificing juveniles on the basis of phantom savings," Brown said.
MASSACHUSETTS
Patrick signs budget with increases for LGBT and HIV/AIDS services
July 12, 2007
By Ethan Jacobs, Baywindows.com
Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) budget July 12 containing relatively modest increases for LGBT-related programs and the state’s HIV/AIDS budget. The budget also included a veto of the federal abstinence-only education grant, which provides funds to encourage young people to postpone having sex until marriage and uses the federal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Among LGBT programs the most dramatic boost was for state funding for LGBT domestic violence programs, which increased by more than 60 percent from $158,000 in FY07 to $250,000 in the new budget. The Department of Education (DOE) received a $50,000 increase in its budget for LGBT youth programming, bringing its total LGBT budget up to $200,000. The Department of Elder Affairs received a $10,000 increase in its funding for the LGBT Aging Project, which will receive $60,000 in FY08.
The only major LGBT-related program in the budget that did not receive an increase was the Department of Public Health’s LGBT youth program, which was level-funded at $350,000.
The HIV/AIDS budget line item received an increase of about $550,000, bringing the state’s HIV/AIDS programming budget up to $36.9 million.
Also noteworthy in the FY08 budget was Patrick’s veto of about $700,000 in federal funding for abstinence-only education programs. Critics of the program have called the programs ineffective, and last April the Department of Health and Human Services released a study of four federally funded abstinence programs and found that they were failed to delay sexual activity among young people and did not effectively teach the risks of unprotected sex or the consequences of contracting STDs. Within the LGBT community critics have also attacked the programs for urging young people to wait to have sex until heterosexual marriage. According to the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts the state is only the ninth to reject the federal abstinence funding.
RHODE ISLAND
An uncertain fate for some in DCYF care
July 11, 2007
By Steve Peoples, projo.com
Shantaine Hall has less than a month to find a new home.
And the 20-year-old single mother is not alone.
There are an estimated 600 young adults who may lose state-subsidized housing and other services in the coming weeks as the Department of Children, Youth and Families struggles with a limited budget to help young people raised in state care.
The young adults of Rhode Island’s child-welfare system have depended on the state for housing, health care and education. Raised in foster homes, institutions and group homes, state law affords them benefits they do not receive from the families they were taken away from.
But the system as it has existed for nearly three decades is about to change because of the state’s new budget.
State law as outlined in the budget requires Rhode Island to provide services such as housing and health care to children who turn 18 while in state custody until their 21st birthday. But legislators cut DCYF’s $25-million budget for such services in half.
“What we know so far is that we were given $12 million less to service 18 to 21 year olds,” DCYF Director Patricia Martinez said. “We need to figure out what sort of supports we are going to put into place to continue providing services to this population in a way that is equitable. While we do that, we need to make sure that we tell the kids that they’re not going to be homeless.”
Hall recently learned from her social worker that as of Aug. 1, the state will stop paying for the one-bedroom apartment she shares with her 2-year-old daughter, Ariana.
“I guess I’m going to stay with my mom,” said Hall, who spent most of her teenage years in state care. “If she says I can’t stay there, I’ll go to a shelter.”
While Martinez promised that no one will be forced onto the street, Hall isn’t so sure.
“Well that’s what they say,” Hall said. “I don’t believe it because where am I going to be in less than a month? Homeless. Me and my child are being left behind.”
The truth is that neither Martinez, nor Hall, nor social service advocates know exactly what will become of the hundreds of 18 to 21 year olds currently living in foster homes, group homes and state-subsidized apartments.
The state must enact cost-cutting measures immediately to live within the new budget, which went into effect July 1. And social workers have already notified young adults across the state that their services will be changed or eliminated.
But Hall and her daughter don’t know what services, if any, they will receive.
DCYF this week began the legal process of removing the 18- to 21-year-olds from Family Court jurisdiction, as outlined in the budget. It is the first step toward reducing or changing state services offered to the young adults, moves that had required court permission until July 1.
Social service advocates, who were initially grateful that the Assembly had financed 18- to 21- year-olds at all (the governor had proposed cutting virtually all money), are asking state leaders to postpone the legal action.
“Youth in state care are guaranteed the right to a timely, appropriate and thorough transition process that cannot be preempted by the sudden enactment of a policy change or budgetary reduction,” reads a letter sent to Governor Carcieri, Martinez and a host of state officials late last month from the Rhode Island Children’s Policy Coalition.
Advocates fear that the rush to save money may put the young people — many of whom were removed from homes because of neglect or abuse — at further risk.
“The public has a right to know that the victims in all of this are going to be the kids. It’s a false assurance to say these kids are going to be fine, because in reality, no one really seems to know,” said Lisa Guillette, executive director of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association.
Soniya Bhogal doesn’t expect a happy 18th birthday.
The teenager becomes an adult on July 24 and has until early next month to be out of her state-subsidized one-bedroom apartment.
“I’m one of those who are so-called getting sent back to my parents,” she said. “They take you out of your house, now they’re telling us to go back? I can’t go back — my mom doesn’t have any room for me… . She doesn’t want me to go back, let’s put it that way.”
Martinez sent a memo to DCYF staff dated July 2 outlining several ways DCYF can “assist” children who turn 18, given the new state budget.
The first option is to cut all state involvement: “All youth who can remain safely with their parents or relatives, who can go to a parent or a relative or who otherwise have a viable transition plan will close to DCYF ... .” The young adult would retain state-subsidized health care, but nothing else.
Another option outlined in the memo would refer the 18- to 21- year-olds to an “aftercare services program” that “may include housing, access to … post secondary educational funding, medical coverage and limited case management.”
Martinez said her department is developing transition plans for each young person, but that there’s no clear plan. Most will receive health care and reduced housing benefits, but “there’s no question” that benefits will be reduced, she said. State services for young adults with developmental disabilities or those who are “seriously emotionally disturbed” are not expected to change.
Martinez acknowledged the magnitude of the looming changes: “It’s pressure I don’t think the system’s ever felt,” she said. “We were told to reform the system in two weeks.”
VERMONT
New law extends foster care
July 9, 2007
By Lisa Rathke, Timesargus.com
Months after leaving her foster family, 17-year-old Kellie Coakley got pregnant. Later, she ended up spending eight months in jail.
Looking back, she says, her life may have taken a different turn if she'd had the possibility of staying in foster care after her 18th birthday.
"I probably would not have had a baby ... I wouldn't haven't gotten knocked up," she said. "I would have focused more on school."
Now, Vermont officials are hoping a change in state law will help make the road to adulthood less bumpy for teens in foster care. Starting this month, they can remain in foster care until they're 22.
"The big thing it does is allows us to change all the messages that we give kids who find themselves in the foster care system," said Steve Dale, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families.
"There's been a lot of focus on the 18th birthday for a number of years. Foster parents assume that kids are going to move out. Kids think they are going to be free of these rules ... when, in fact, that's not what we do with our (own) kids. Most kids still spend a lot of time at home. If they go to school, they come back on vacation. If they have problems, they spend some time at home.
"Our hope is that their experience is like every other kid who is going through the process of transitioning out," Dale said.
Children's advocates say the change is long overdue. They point to prison populations as an indication that Vermont needs to do more for kids in its care. A three-year study concluded in 2001 found that 36 percent of Vermont prison inmates had once been in foster care.
"To me, that was an indicting statistic," said Mark Redmond, executive director of Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Burlington.
Connecticut funds foster care through age 23. New York extends it to 21. But Vermont's cut off age had been 18, which Redmond and others believe set the stage for failure for many.
Vermont is now one of nine states that now funds foster care past 18, although legislation is pending in other states, said Joyce Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Child Welfare League in Arlington, Va.
Some teens have a high school diploma but most lack job skills. "And you're letting go at 18? Don't be surprised if they end of up in jail... you're giving them a one-way ticket," Redmond said.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. has introduced legislation that would provide federal funding to states to continue foster care through age 21.
"We think it's great, because so many kids are not prepared," said Johnson. "Even kids in families aren't necessarily ready to leave the nest when they turn 18, so we think it's very important," she said, referring to that bill.
Starting July 1, Vermont teens have the option of remaining in foster care until they turn 22, provided they are going to school, working or getting some type of training. The law also allows them to re-enter foster care after leaving.
About 60 teens are expected to take advantage of the new law this year, at a cost of roughly $700,000 in reimbursements to foster families, Dale said.
The expectation is that the program will grow. In three years, Dale estimates, 120 foster care children will stay on — at a cost of $1.2 million.
Looking back, Coakley says she wasn't ready to be on her own at 18.
"You kind of get cut off. You look at kids growing up with parents. I guess stability is important for everybody," she says.
Now 23, working and in college while she shares custody of her son with the boy's father, she advocates for other kids as president of the state's youth development committee, which meets monthly to discuss issues facing those in foster care.
"I think the more support that kids can get during that age, the better," she said.
FLORIDA
Cabinet to focus on children's needs
July 12, 2007
By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee.com
The sponsor of legislation creating a "children's cabinet" said Wednesday the panel will focus legislative attention on health, education and development needs of Florida's young people.
Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, said she would like to serve on the 15-member board, which will work with state agencies to present recommendations in future legislative sessions. She said she has spoken with Gov. Charlie Crist about his personal involvement in the project, as well as with Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, who have designees on the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet.
Crist held a ceremonial signing of Ausley's bill (HB 509) at Kids in Distress, a Broward County agency that provides early intervention and treatment for victims of child abuse. Sen. Nan Rich, R-Weston, the Senate sponsor of the bill, also attended the event in Wilton Manors.
"We have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us, our children," Crist said. "I am confident the children's cabinet will streamline the distribution of critical services to ensure that Florida will remain the best place to grow up."
Ausley said that many legislators and state agency officials "have worked for a long time to get kids a seat at the table" in Tallahassee.
"Today, we're giving them the table - here's a whole cabinet that will be working for their needs," she added.
The group will be chaired by the governor, secretaries of the Departments of Juvenile Justice and Children and Families, Agency for Health Care Administration and directors of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and Agency for Workforce Innovation.
Other members include the state education commissioner, surgeon general, chief child advocate and director of the guardian ad litem office. Crist will appoint five members from children-advocacy agencies.
The children's cabinet will meet six times a year in public forums across the state.
STEROIDS
Athletic associations look to curb steroid use among high schoolers through testing, education
By Bret H. McCormick, Thetowntalk.com
Is Louisiana the next state to jump on the bandwagon of mandating steroids testing among high school athletes?
Kenny Henderson, commissioner-elect of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, believes there is some momentum building in the state's Legislature to call for mandatory steroids tests.
A little more than a year ago, the New Jersey legislature enacted a law requiring steroid testing of high school athletes on a limited basis, making it the first state with mandatory drug testing for prep athletes. It set aside $100,000 for random testing of athletes in state championship events.
Florida has followed suit, setting aside $100,000 to randomly test athletes in baseball, boys and girls weightlifting and football. And in Texas, legislation was approved and $3 million appropriated in May that would make all high school athletes subject to testing for steroids, beginning with the 2007-08 school year.
Basic testing
The current rule in the LHSAA is that schools must enforce a "basic drug policy," Henderson said.
That policy, in essence, begins with the LHSAA forcing every student-athlete to sign a consent form to be drug-tested. After that, however, it is up to each individual school to enforce its drug policy.
"It's up to them how they want to do the program," Henderson said.
The current drug plan does not specifically target steroids, and Henderson said insufficient research exists in Louisiana to know if steroids are a problem.
Enough of a problem exists, however, for the state legislature to consider putting up money for statewide steroids testing. Right now, Henderson said, schools simply can't afford to test all their athletes.
"Individual schools can't do it," he said. "If the state legislature wants to step in and put forth some money, that's a different story."
Flordia's plan
Florida will begin a one-year pilot program today that will test 1 percent of the state's high school athletes in football, baseball and weightlifting.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said the law, which affects 650 public and private schools that are members of the Florida High School Athletic Association, is designed to help high school students -- not punish them.
"I am hopeful that through this legislation we will limit the number of high school students struggling with steroid use," Crist said. "It's our responsibility to teach our children the serious health risks that may be involved. We can help prevent serious health problems and drug abuse later on."
Any athlete who refuses to provide a urine sample would be ineligible to remain on the team. Those who test positive would be suspended from the team, but could be reinstated if they pass a follow-up test later.
Texas' legislation calls for a much more aggressive plan, one that calls for a "statistically significant sample" of students in all sports.
A different approach
In Tennessee, however, there are no statewide mandates on steroids testing. Instead, the state's athletic association has concentrated on education, rather than testing.
"If you are going to approach curbing the use of steroids from a global perspective, the best thing is education," said Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Executive Director Ronnie Carter, whose organization is comprised of approximately 360 member schools that have close to 70,000 athletes.
Dr. David Black, president of Aegis Labs in Nashville, which conducts various drug tests for schools nationwide, says steroids testing is not an effective use of state funds. Each test costs approximately $100.
Instead, he believes testing for recreational drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and narcotics is more important. The tests are cheaper, and he said he believes those substances are being used by more prep athletes than steroids.
Why the use?
Taylor Matthews, a running back for Holy Savior Menard, said he doesn't personally know anyone using steroids but today's high school athletes understand its use is prevalent.
"I don't know anybody personally, but I've heard some stories," Matthews said. "I know there are people on it."
The benefits are obvious to Matthews. Anyone who can get faster and stronger has that "extra edge" in the ultra-competitive race for college scholarships. It's for that reason he wishes Louisiana would test its athletes.
"I think there should be some testing," he said. "People will always try to get the upper hand and advantage with steroids. It's not right."
It can also be dangerous. Steroids promote the storage of protein and the growth of muscle size and strength, but there are potentially dangerous side-affects. A few are paranoia, irritability and delusions.
Those side effects are why Tennessee is hanging its hat on education, and also why the National Federation of State High School Associations has launched its own in-depth steroids education program called "Make the Right Choice," which includes videos, brochures and posters urging youth athletes to stay away from steroids.
Henderson said steroids will be a hot-button issue at this week's national convention.
Matthews said he hasn't seen much of a push for education, other than an occasional television commercial or comment from coaches.
"Coach maybe will mention it every once in a while ... but it's really not all that talked about," he said. "We are in high school, but people do use them."
Not an option
Josh Marien, an assistant football and powerlifting coach at Alexandria Senior High, tells his athletes that steroids "absolutely are not an option."
Powerlifting is not a sport that is regulated by the LHSAA so it does not fall under the organization's policy for having a drug-testing program.
Marien said there is no testing going on locally or state-wide for powerlifting, simply because the cost is so great.
At the national meet, which was hosted by ASH this past year, there is a requirement for drug testing. Marien said 10 percent of the athletes at the event have to be drug-tested in order for it to be recognized by USA Powerlifting, the sport's governing body.
Marien said he constantly talks to his athletes about what they can and cannot take, but most of them don't talk about steroids.
"Kids know the dangers. They've heard it 1,000 times," he said. "Honestly, I don't get a lot of questions about steroids. I get them about the best supplements they can take."
Still, Marien knows that steroids exist "in all sports, on all levels" and he feels that one day -- soon -- testing is going to be necessary "to even the playing field."
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