Juvenile Adolescent Males - Research Paper Example

Running head: Mini Paper 2 –Program Mini Paper 2 –Program 23rd February Executive summary This project targets the juvenile adolescent males who have been discharged from Bonnie Brae Residential Facility. As a result of lack of parental supervision, negative peer influence, lack of self discipline and in adequate community support, many young people continue to commit crimes despite the efforts of Bonnie Brae to rehabilitate them. This has triggered the establishment of a program whose goal includes reducing the number of crimes committed by young people, enhancing the sense of self esteem among young people, training adolescent males on how to start income generating activities as well as improving their performance in schools. The main activities of the program that will be undertaken within Bonnie Brae Residential Facility include counseling, parental training, individual and group mentoring among others. Some of the key parties that this project will rely on are parents, clinical officers, law enforcers, mentors, local support agencies, residential staffs and members of the community. With the financial assistance from the federal government, the program is focused at attaining positive outcomes that include improved skills, behavior change, high self esteem, determination and increased income for the adolescent males. Introduction Proper planning, controlling, management and effective coordination are some of the major aspects that determine the success of a project. One of the duties of a project manager is to oversee proper use of financial resources that are given by federal government or grant making foundations. In addition, project managers must ensure that the objectives of their projects are in line with the needs of the target population. In this way, projects will enjoy the support of the members of the community as well as the government. Based on the wide range of activities that are undertaken to make a project successful, it is paramount for regular evaluation of the goals to avoid deviation and loss of resources. In the contemporary world juvenile delinquency has become a major security threat. In their efforts to curb the negativities associated with illegal behaviors by young people, various rehabilitation centers have been established. Although government authorities allocate adequate funds to oversee the running of the treatment centers, crime rate in many countries remain high. This means that there is a gap that exists in the process of transforming the young people to become responsible adult. This paper analyzes the major aspects that will be covered by a program that aims at improving the life of the juvenile adolescent males who have passed through the Bonnie Brae Residential Facility, a residential treatment center based in northern New Jersey (Cicchetti and Cohen, 2009). Program description In its effort to rehabilitate juvenile adolescent males, Bonnie Brae has embarked on provision of various resources including community support, consistent discipline as well as adequate supervision. The center is also focused at protecting young men from the negative impact of peer influence especially for the communities residing in marginalized areas. However, upon the discharge from the Bonnie Brae, many of the young men are engaged in the same vices while others are engaged in similar crimes due to lack of adequate support from their parents and the community in general. In this regard, this project is focused at initiating programs that will improve the productivity of the juvenile adolescence males once they are out of the treatment center. The project target juvenile adolescent males aged between 16 -18 years who have been discharged from Bonnie Brae as well as those who have underwent counseling for the last six months (Daley and Onwuegbuzie, 2001). In the same way, the program is focused at improving the living standards for young people who have been involved with juvenile justice system but lack vital resources that can help them not to engage in unlawful behavior such as selling of drugs (Bulmer and Warwick, 1993). Even though the project is aimed at covering an expansive geographical area in future, it will initially target the residence of New Jersey. Objectives of the program One of the major objectives of this program is to reduce the overall rate of crime that young people have been engaged in. Taking into consideration that the murder cases have increased by 150% since 1995, the program is focused at giving hope to the young people, appreciate other members of the community and have a vision (Eadie and Morley, 2003). Due to globalization and the need to expand their wealth, young people are now focused at working anywhere in the world. In this regard, this program is aimed at improving the communication and social skills that young people will require in foreign countries. Another significant objective of this program is to make juvenile adolescent males acquire the sense of self-esteem. According to Steinberg (2008) adolescent males who are discharged from Bonnie Brae and other rehabilitation centers usually experience rejection and segregation from other members of the community. As a result, they feel unworthy a fact that exposes them to use of harmful drugs and other social crimes (Letourneau et al, 2009). This program is therefore focused at educating New Jersey community and parents on how to handle the discharged juvenile adolescence males so as to make them responsible residents. Similarly, the objective of the program is to initiate income generating activities that will reduce the level of dependency of young people on their parents. This will be attained through educating the young men on how to utilize locally available resources to expand their incomes. Additionally, the program is aimed at improving the performance of adolescent males in their studies and while undertaking rehabilitation programs in Bonnie Brae. Services provided by the program This project aims at providing wide range of services to the clients as well as their parents. DeLisi, (2005) argue that poor academic performance is a major factors that propagate antisocial behavior among the young people. This is due to various reasons such as poor time management, lack of discipline in schools, lack of team work and poor relationship within the learning environment. In this regard, the program will train the young people on how to manage their time as well as enhancement of positive relationship with their colleagues. In the same way, the program will train the young people on the importance of relating well with their instructors. Provision of parent training is another key service that the program is focused at. In this way, parents will be exposed to the various ways that they need to emulate to ensure maximum discipline among their children while in school and in their homes. Negative peer influence is a major cause of antisocial behaviors among young men (Kadish et al, 1999). In this regard, the program will initiate effective skills thus guaranteeing that young men have self respect and determination to face life challenges without seeking much help from their age mates. In order to ensure that the juvenile adolescent males attain positive attitude towards life, counseling programs will also be established. These programs will be provided by counseling professionals working in Bonnie Brae as well as outsiders who will be hired from New Jersey. Individual and group mentoring will also be undertaken. In this way, the sense of understanding and diversity of thinking will be enhanced among the participants. Time and ways of undertaking the program activities The program is expected to be initiated within the next four to six months. Prior to the commencement of the provision of the various services that will be offered by the project, professional who includes clinical directors, mentors, counselors, law enforcement officers and local agencies will be updated on the key issues and time of training. Training on time management will be a core unit that will be undertaken on daily bases during the morning sessions. During the day, clients will be trained on the various techniques of forming team work. In addition, the young adolescence will be trained on the ways of utilizing the local resources at their exposure. These include use of information technology to initiate income generating activities such as cyber cafes among others. To ensure that the problems facing the young people especially after being released from the Bonnie Brae Residential Facility are properly understood, weekly forums will be initiated. During the forums, the participants will freely interact with the law enforcers and any problem affecting the young people will be addressed. Parental training will be conducted in monthly and annual basis. Key groups that will oversee the training of the parents include the local agencies as well as teachers from Bonnie Brae. One of the major areas that parents will be trained on is the mediated learning experience. This is a critical tool that will ensure social, emotional and cognitive development of their children. To ensure effective counseling and training of the parents, the project aims at emulating three major formats. First, there will be individual counseling depending with the needs of a particular parent. Secondly, there will be annual parental conferences that will be conducted within the premises of Bonnie Brae. Thirdly, parents whose parents have similar problems will be counseled in small groups. This project is also focused at adopting three approaches of group mentoring. These include peer-group mentoring, facilitated group mentoring and team mentoring. The mentoring process will be conducted on monthly bases. However, the process will also be undertaken at the request of the juvenile adolescence, their parents or any other participants. Location of the program activities Most of the programs that will be initiated by this project will be held within the premises of Bonnie Brae. However, through the collaboration of local agencies and local enterprises, technical skills will be offered outside the center. It is vital to note that the effectiveness of skills that the young adolescence will acquire will be evaluated after the actual practice in their homes or while in school. This means that the project will look for opportunities where the young people will get attachments and chances or practicing the managerial, technological and team work formation skills. In addition, parents will be guided on how to supervise the young people to ensure that all the skills learnt are put into practice during the day to day household tasks. The role of multidisciplinary team in running the program The engagement of multidisciplinary team including parents and other professionals is a major aspect that will ensure the progress of the project. Due to the cultural diversity and wide range of social crimes undertaken by young people, parents will have an opportunity to share their views with mentors and professional counselors prior to the counseling and mentoring programs. In this way, the information and guidance that the young people will receive will be relevant and appropriate. Based on the high number of parents that will be interested in the entire program, trainings will be conducted on annual bases. This implies that after one year new groups will be trained. However, close monitoring of the discharged young men will be undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of the skills learnt (McLaughlin and Jordan, 1999). Members of the community will also have an opportunity to give feedbacks related to the conduct of the juvenile adolescent males after the program. This will not only ensure adjustments of the program activities but also it will make members of the community to participate in the transformation of juvenile adolescent males. Evaluation of the program To ensure that the objectives of the program are achieved, a logic model will be emulated (Potter, 2006). This entails the inputs that are needed by the program, activities, immediate outputs, outcomes as well as tools used for evaluation as indicated by the diagram below. Source- (Julian and David, 1997). Major inputs that will be employed by the program include financial resources in the form of grants from the federal government. In addition, the program will emulate the services of clinical directors, professional counselors, law enforcement officers, teachers and mentors. Program activities These entails the strategies that will be undertaken to convert the inputs into outputs (Shechtman, 2003). Key activities will include participation of target groups in skills building and enhancing full participation during forums and discussions. Outputs Based on the program activities, clients are expected to have adequate knowledge of using computers to generate income, freely interact with their parents and colleagues, have confidence to ask questions and have ability to participate in community projects. Outcome One of the key outcomes of the program is that in the long-term it will increase the incomes of young males who have been discharged from Bonnie Brae. This will be as a result of the skills that they will acquire in terms of using local resources. In the same way, a change of behavior is an essential outcome of the program (Bamberger, 2000). Juvenile adolescent males will also acquire wide range of skills that are needed for peaceful coexistence with other members of society. Additionally, self esteem of the adolescence males will be enhanced. Tools for evaluation To be certain that the needs of the Juvenile adolescence males are addressed and the project is offering quality skills that will make it attain its goals, a follow up program questionnaire will be employed. The questionnaire will evaluate the effectiveness of the program to young men, their parents and to other members of the community. Question 1, 2, and 3 will be directed to participating adolescent males, their parents and other members of the society. Evaluating questionnaire 1) I have been able to implement key skills taught during the program to improve my living standard Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 2) As a result of the counseling and mentoring process of this program, I have observed positive results on my child Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 3) The behavioral changes depicted by ------- (Name of the client) are as a result of the activities undertaken by the program Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 Source- (Smith, 1990) Work Plan Effective time management is a key principle that this program will consider. With the assistance of the Bonnie Brae managers, a work plan will be adopted so as to ensure proper coordination among the various participants of the program. The work plan below highlights major activities that will be undertaken in the first 1 year. Activity Commencement of activity Deadline of the activity Selection of the participating juvenile adolescent males 1st June 2012 15th June 2012 Hiring of professionals and purchase of teaching materials 16th June 2012 3oth June 2012 Invitation of the parents and commencement of actual training 1st July 2012 3ist December 2012 Attachment in local organisations 1st January 2013 15st February 2013 Follow up survey 16th February 2013 16th May 2013 Evaluation 17th May 2013 31st May 2013 Source- (Smith, 1990). Conclusion The problems faced by juvenile adolescent males who have been discharged from Bonnie Brae Residential Facility cannot be overlooked. Even though the facility has taken initiatives to improve the living standard of the youth, there are still exposed to a number of vices such theft, murder and use of drugs among others (Walklate, 2003). This has necessitated the establishment of a program as discussed in this paper that will oversee effective transformation of the Juvenile adolescent males to responsible and productive citizens. The program targets young men in the state of New Jersey. To achieve its objectives, this project is focused at engaging parents, law enforcement officers, clinical directors, agency residential, counselors and mentors in its activities. Key aspects that the program will advocate for includes self-discipline, internal control, how to avoid peer influence and ways of exploiting the available resources for the benefit of the young people. Through the financial grants from the federal government, the program will ultimately address the increased rate of crime, a major security threat in New Jersey and its neighborhood. Based on the above paper, it is clear that even young people undergoes punishment as a result of committing crimes, this does not deter them from repeating the crimes. This means that government authorities should be flexible in giving funds to individuals and organizations that are focused at improving the lives young people who are discharged from jails and rehabilitation centers. References Bamberger, M. (2000). The Evaluation of International Development Programs: A View from the Front. American Journal of Evaluation, 21, pp. 95-102. Bulmer, M. and Warwick, D. (1993). Social research in developing countries: surveys and censuses in the Third World. London: Routledge. Cicchetti G and D. Cohen (2009). Developmental Psychopathy. New York: Wiley. Daley, E.C., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., (2001) Educational, familial, social, and criminal profiles of male juvenile offenders. Educational Research Quarterly, 25 (1). DeLisi, M. (2005). Career Criminals in Society. London: Sage Publications. Eadie, T and Morley, R. (2003).Crime, Justice and Punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Julian, M., David A. (1997). 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