A PROMISE to America's Foster Youth

When I first heard of Foster Focus Magazine I found myself overjoyed that former foster children were working together with the purpose of improving 
the nation’s child welfare system.  Over the last few months I have read many articles in this magazine which spoke about efforts to reduce sex 
trafficking, improve the lives of children in foster care, and change detrimental child welfare laws.  With all of the hard work former fosters are putting into 
improving the lives of current foster children I wanted to inform you of an easy action each of us can take to further our efforts.
     
As most of us know the prospect of a child in foster care skating through his or her childhood without coming to any physical or emotional harm is slim.   
The psychological harm caused by their abusive pasts coupled with the stress of lack of permanent residence and or permanent family pushes many of 
our younger brothers and sisters toward a life of drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence.   These negative outcomes for foster youth typically occur because 
foster youth lack coping skills to overcome peer pressure, have mental health problems which drug use temporarily alleviates, and join gangs in order to 
have a pseudo family of their own.
     
For years social workers, psychologists, and other social scientists have attempted to find ways to steer at risk youth away from gangs, drugs, and 
violence.   After decades of research studies have found that mentor programs targeting youth at risk for becoming involved in these activities reduce 
the likely hood of these youth participating in delinquent actions.
     
Right now in both United States House of Representatives and United States Senate two identical bills, which seek to provide mentorship programs to at 
risk youth, are awaiting review.  These two bills are titled the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and 
Education Act (The Youth PROMISE Act).  If passed the Youth PROMISE Act would help current foster youth, reduce government spending and create 
jobs in communities’ nation wide.
      
The Youth PROMISE Acts in the Senate and House of Representative originated from an idea created by the State of Virginias Democrat Congressman 
Bobby Scott.  During his years as a public servant, Congressman Scott learned that one of the largest expenses in Virginia and other areas of the 
country included maintaining juvenile detention centers and adult prisons.  Congressman Scott wanted to find a way to reduce the prison population.  He 
felt that by providing individuals with services, such as gang rehabilitation programs, they would turn away from the criminal path.   In his search for a 
solution, Congressman Scott reviewed a multitude of studies and evidence based research and found his answer.  Studies have shown that when youth 
who are at risk for becoming involved in gangs and drug related activities are placed in mentorship programs, gang prevention programs, or gang and 
drug intervention programs, these youth tend to turn away from delinquent behaviors and become upstanding adult citizens.
     
With the knowledge that gang prevention programs and mentorship programs lead to a reduction in juvenile and adult criminal offenders, Congressman 
Scott realized that current legislation concerning gang prevention in the United States was not effective in decreasing gang and criminal activity.  In 
1974, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in an attempt to lower gang involvement by enforcing harsher 
punishments on individuals involved in gang activities. This act promotes punishing juvenile offenders by placing them in juvenile detention centers.  
Studies conducted since the passage of this act show that youth who are placed in juvenile detention centers are more likely to become repeat 
offenders and career criminals during their adult lives.
     
After learning of the inefficiencies of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, Congressman Scott created the Youth PROMISE Act.  The 
Youth PROMISE Act seeks to alter the elements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which use strong legal action and jail 
punishments to penalize youth who have been convicted of gang related crimes.  If passed, the Youth PROMISE Act would provide funds for the creation 
of gang-prevention programs, gang-rehabilitation programs, early childhood education programs, drug-resistance programs, after school programs, and 
mentoring services to communities across the nation.