OCFS

Prepare young people in the custody

of the Office of Children and Family Services

to rejoin society as productive citizens.

The Executive Budget proposes cutbacks in key services to troubled youth, including the closure of some secure units and group homes, and the elimination of 47 teachers, counselors, and other staff positions.

To keep our communities safe, we need to maintain the current level of teaching and counseling services to juvenile offenders, to give them the skills and support they need to succeed.

The Legislature should:

REJECT ... the governor's proposal to close two secure units at Harlem Valley. Reducing beds will put a greater burden on an already overburdened system.

REJECT... the governor's proposal that would allow the transfer of adolescents as young as age 16 to state correctional facilities following only in-house administrative reviews. It is inappropriate to summarily transfer adolescents into adult prisons without full and impartial hearings that are convened by an independent review body. Sending juvenile offenders to adult prisons reduces their chances for rehabilitation and increases their risk of being sexulally assaulted.

REJECT... the governor's proposal to raise the teacher/student ratio from 1:14 to 1:16.

Nearly 1,600 of the 2,141 youth in the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) custody have special needs, including help with substance abuse, special education, mental illness, mental retardation and other health problems.

Since 1990 there has been a 93 percent increase in the number of youth with mental health problems, a 65 percent increase in youth with limited English abilities, and a 53 percent increase in juveniles with substance abuse problems.

These special needs require lower teacher/student ratios, not higher ones.

REJECT... the proposed closure of all 12 state-operated group homes. Closing these group homes located in Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo (2), Gloversville, Rochester, Schenectady, Staten Island, Syracuse (2), Mount Vernon and Wyandanch will increase delinquency. The 100 juveniles in these homes now receive full-day and evening services.

It is not clear whether the communities into which these youth will be released have the services that they need. In other words, troubled youth who were once receiving services designed to prevent the recurrence of their delinquency will now receive fewer services. Increased and amplified delinquency can be the only result.

PEF urges state legislators to give

troubled youth the chance to succeed!