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DOING SOMETHING ABOUT CHILDREN AT RISK

NCJ Number
145124
Author(s)
E E Hebert
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the Children at Risk (CAR) program, formerly the Strategic Intervention for High Risk Youths, with emphasis on its application in Austin, Tex.
Abstract
The program is a collaboration among private foundations, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. It aims to involve neighborhood youths in a productive and comprehensive array of services that offer attractive alternatives to drug abuse, gangs, drug dealing, and other criminal behavior. The CAR project identifies at-risk adolescents in the target areas and provides a coordinated, broad range of services for these children and their families. The programs at all six sites have several common elements, including case management, community policing, safe passages, drug-free zones, and individual and family counseling. However, each city also has unique methods of implementing CAR. The two basic components of the Austin program are case management and community policing. Case managers work directly with the youths and their families and, with other program staff, review each child's behavior and school records every 2 weeks. Austin uses the general CAR eligibility requirements, which include both demographic requirements and at least one of high-risk criteria that include school factors, personal factors, and family factors. Although the program reaches only a limited number of children and families, its efforts and progress to date are encouraging. Photographs