Homes give troubled teens chance to turn lives around

A new Child, Youth and Family home being opened in Mangere today aims to divert troubled teens × Troubled Teens
Troubled Teens /trou.bled/ /teens/ n. Noun A troubled teen is defined as a person that is between the age 13-19 that is beset by problems or conflict. Every Teenager faces problems that they must encounter in their life.  Problems arise in every person’s life both big and small yet sometimes we allow even the most insignificant of problems affect our lives.  Sometimes with teenagers they allow trials in their life greatly affect them in negative ways.  Typically when a person (typically teenagers) face problems in their lives, the ability to cope with the problem does not exist.  When teenagers turn to other things to cope with the feelings of the problems that they usually face  things such as drugs and alcohol, pornography, criminal activity, etc. It is important to find help for troubled teens as soon as possible.  There are many different programs that are available to help troubled teens with the problems that they face each with a different approach and nature to the program.
with behavioral problems from a life of crime or delinquency.

The Supervised Group Home, one of 12, is to be opened by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

She said yesterday that the centres were unique because they included round-the-clock supervision and mentoring and aimed to change the behaviour of the residents and prevent them from taking a path to crime.

"For some of these young people it is about preventing that sort of behaviour and seeing that they’re … not committing crimes," the minister said.

"Putting these young people into youth justice residences isn’t going to give them all the support × Support
Support / sup·port/ n. Noun Support is defined as the act or instance of supporting; serve as a foundation for something else. Support can be given to many different ways. Through the encouragement to perform and progress and also through being there for someone who needs help. Support is usually shown through family and peers but can come from anywhere from support centers, rehab centers, and treatment centers. Without a support, confidence would be very difficult to find. Support is key to getting through trials and problems. The ability to have someone that is supporting you and encouraging you to move forward and progress is important to growth and change. Especially with youth, that as they are trying to find out who they are that they feel supported in all of their doings. This is important because as support and encouragement is shown the youth feel confident to become the best they can be.
they need to turn themselves around. These kids are ones that need a lot of help and their behaviour, with the right type of interventions, can be changed."

The homes are set up to house five 12- to 17-year-olds at a time. They will be referred by a social worker or the Family or Youth Courts, and will stay for between two and six months.

The homes fill a gap between foster homes and youth justice facilities, which are essentially prisons for youths.

They are set up to be everyday houses in everyday communities, though the youths are not free to wander in and out unescorted.

They will follow a strict and structured programme that will include education or work during weekdays, and arts, cultural and sporting activities in the evenings and weekends.

Some will be home-schooled, others given training or help in finding work.

Family will be encouraged to visit the home and be a part of the programme.

Ms Bennett said it was in some ways similar to the Te Hurihanga programme, which the Government scrapped this year because it was too expensive.

The cost of keeping someone in the home is $338 a day, less than the $633 a day at Te Hurihanga.

"If we can stop them going on to adult jail, then it’s money well spent. But it’s not cheap," Ms Bennett said.

"It’s based on best evidence, something that is intensive and ongoing but also looks as real as possible, which is the best way for these young people."

By Derek Cheng