Letter: Cook writes on YAP

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Dear County Councilors,

Can you imagine a Hamilton County that is known for having the lowest level of juvenile court involvement, per capita, in the country? Well, it’s happening. In Hamilton County. Now.

The Hamilton County Youth Assistance Program is now operating in all of the county school districts. Teachers, counselors and police identify children “at risk,” that is, something may be wrong. If the family choses to take advantage of the program (and over 70 percent do so), the child and family are evaluated by a professional called an Early Intervention Advocate. The EIA then draws upon a large and growing array of services available for the child or family, such as drug and alcohol counseling, anger management, financial assistance and counseling. Many other avenues are also available such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, Young Life, soccer, baseball and other sports just to name a few. If the personal finances are not available by the family to afford these avenues, money raised by each school community buys and pays for these services.

The best part is we all benefit. Our schools, cities and towns are benefiting by not having to deal with the kind of juvenile delinquent behavior that is a terrible issue in other communities. Our workforce is benefiting by having a great workforce of productive citizens to draw from. Our county courts and juvenile legal system benefit by not having to process and detain offenders.

The program began in Westfield some six years ago. Since that time close to 800 families have been referred to YAP. How do we know it’s working? In the year 2009 the Hamilton County Juvenile system processed 1,616 children. In the year 2014 that number dropped to 935. It’s also important to keep in mind that not only has our overall county population increased, but our juvenile population has exploded in that we now have in our county three out of the top 10 highest school district populations in the State.

Can you imagine the financial savings to the entities listed above? Not to mention, how do you put a value on saving a child’s life?

Presently the cost of the professional Early Intervention Advocates is being funded by a mishmash of city, school and gifts, a rather unsustainable and unreliable arrangement. Our county council and county commissioners are considering a one year grant to fund the professional EIO’s. It is our desire that permanent funding come from the county for the EIO’s by moving the huge savings realized from the decrease in legal cases processed to the prevention program. To put things in perspective, the cost of the county today to provide full juvenile detentions services can be $400 per day. Youth Assistance costs about $10 per day! Truly a win win for all.

Here is why this program works, is so inexpensive and is so unique: it works through prevention using community resources. If we can catch youth at a young age before they cross the legal line and provide them with a positive role model from the community, it works. Ninety percent of the youth so far that have received YAP services have not gone on to have an encounter with the law.

How can you help? The services provided to our children come from you, the community. Please help us continue our success by writing to your county commissioners and councilors, urging their financial support of the professional Early Intervention Advocates. Contact information can be found at http://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/directory.aspx .

This is not a magic potion or process. It is simply a system that identifies problems early and utilizes proven avenues for improvement. So many times children headed in the wrong direction simply need a great role model. A community, brought together, can provide just that. Please help us continue to strengthen our future.

J. Andrew Cook, Mayor

City of Westfield


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