Kids + Elderly Equals Progress (KEEP) will be an ongoing program working with juveniles twelve years old and younger who have been referred to the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) to perform some kind of community work hours. The theme at the JAC is "Restorative Justice". This is an idea that focuses on giving back to the community the things that you have taken away by committing the offense. The children learn that when they commit a crime, not only does it affect themselves or the victim of the crime, but also many people throughout the community. The focus of this project is to get these children involved with the elderly throughout the community, to interact with them and also to help to serve them in some way.
Statement of Need
From the research that I did on inter-generational programs, it was evident that both children and the elderly are in great need of learning and interacting with one another. An article on elderly mentors states that there are millions of young people in need of immediate, intensive, individual attention. With a population that will become increasingly aged, there is a great responsibility for them to support the youth. Adolescents are in need of a great deal of time, effort, patience, understanding and consistency. The elderly can be available more often than already over extended parents. Older adults can offer a life perspective and provide the knowledge that they have accumulated over a lifetime.
In Shasta County specifically, there is a need for these types of programs. I was asked by the director of the Juvenile Assessment Center, Ron West, to find places for the younger kids to do some type of community service that went along with the restorative justice theme. With the availability of these kids and the ever growing elderly population it seemed to be a good fit.
Not only are the kids in need, but so are the elderly. They are a group that often feels isolated and has frequent occurrences of depression. The elderly are forced to play less active roles in society and because of that, they may suffer from low self-esteem. With the growing number of families that are detached from extended members, many times the children and their grandparents don't have the opportunity to interact. Many young people grow up never having interacted with people of other generations. This project is intended to help to connect both groups and to help them better understand one another.
Inter-generational programs link generations and provide immediate benefits to participants. They also relieve the pressure of some agency operations by connecting generations and creating other avenues of assistance. Although there is a challenge of social agencies to become the managers of these problems, particularly in my case, it is essentially due to lack of funding. The success and awareness of inter-generational programs is based on public awareness.
Description of the Intervention
The Juvenile Assessment Center found it difficult to place the younger kids, mainly twelve and younger, with older ones who have to do manual labor for their community hours. There are forty to fifty kids available in that age range that could benefit from this project. Basically, the first part of my process was to locate facilities that would be willing to work with me on this inter-generational program. I was able to speak with the Activities Director at many of the facilities in Redding. The requirements were that there was going to have to be someone there available and willing to take on the task of supervision of the kids. This was going to be my greatest task. Many times, during my phone calls, I was stopped before I was able to describe the KEEP Project. Of the facilities that would actually let me come and talk to them, I was able to get two Assisted Living Facilities in Redding that were willing to take on the task.
Secondly, there was the issue of liability that needed to be addressed. There was a question and answer page that I included with information regarding my program. It included common questions such as: What happens if a kid gets hurt? What happens if they steal something from the facility? The answer to the first question is that the County carries liability insurance for those cases, and the facility has no responsibility for that. If one of the kids steals from the facility, unfortunately the County is not liable; there is a slight possibility of this happening as the juvenile will suffer much harsher repercussions. I also noted that, at any time, the facility could refuse our referrals; and that if one of the juveniles were to not follow the rules, they could be sent home immediately.
Finally, I had the KEEP project approved by the Assistant Chief Probation Officer in Shasta County. We talked about my plans for this project and I informed him of my difficulties finding facilities. He suggested starting a pilot program with the facilities that were willing to participate. I was initially involved in the referral and mediation between the facility and the JAC. I am visiting the facilities to see how the kids are doing. Upon graduation, I will no longer be involved in the program. My hope was that I could start the KEEP Program and that the JAC would be able to continue to develop it. As I stated earlier, this is an approach that many facilities do not want to take a chance on, but if they do continue to develop it, it could make all of the difference in the world!
Evaluation of the Intervention
I'm not feeling as though this program was a failure, but I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to see how facilities discriminate against youth, especially those that have committed some time of offense. I had to really defend the idea and explain how the kids and the elderly could benefit from this program. Once the facilities heard that these were kids from the JAC and on some type of probation, it was evident in their expressions that they were cautious about taking on the KEEP Program.
I was able to contract with two Assisted Living Facilities in Redding, the Lakewood Christian Facility and Atria Communities. The kids that are best suited for these facilities are currently being chosen and they will start as soon as possible. The Lakewood Christian Facility will be taken two to three kids on a daily basis from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. while Atria Communities is going to start slow with one evening a week and expanding to weekends if successful. The Activities Director at Atria Communities has reserved one night a week for the KEEP Kids to facilitate a game night. I think it is exciting to have been able to develop this on a pilot program. I hope it will be successful and that other such contracts can be developed.
Reflections on the Project
It was very difficult to get people excited about this project. Many thought I had great intentions, but that it may have been somewhat unrealistic. There were great concerns about liabilities, people who were willing to take the time to supervise, and wanting to work with "those type of kids". I began to get discouraged early on as to how to get facilities involved. If I had advice for the next generations, it would be to contact other programs to see how they started. Another idea was to used facilities that involved people with developmental disabilities and possibly use that for a pilot program to show people that these type of programs really do work. There could also be an event that was sponsored by the community to get the youth and elderly together just for one day. They could play games and cook together as well as become mentors for one another. If the community could only realize how beneficial that would be!
References
Baker, John T. (1998) Wisdom (Online). Available: http://seniorsite.come/poetry/wisdom.html
Conyer, John G. (Apr. 96). Building Bridges Between Generations. Educational Leadership. Vol. 53, Issue 7, pg. 14
Halford, Joan Montgomery (May 98). For Significant Support, Turn to Seniors. Educational Leadership. Vol. 55, Issue 8, pg. 49
Issues and Context, Facts About Intergenerational Programs. (On-line). Available: http://intergenugo.org/About/issues.htm.
Sharariw Kuehne, Valeri (Winter 98/99). Building Intergenerational Communities Through Research and Evaluation. Generations. Vol. 22, Issue 4, pg. 82
Taylor, Andrea; Dryfoos, Joy (Winter 98/99). Creating a Safe Passage: Elder Mentors and Vulnerable Youth. Generations. Vol. 22, Issue 4, pg. 43
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