problem focused services

     The section on problem focused services focused on the history of the child welfare and juvenile systems. The child welfare system began in the mid nineteenth century. This system was designed to take care and look after children who are not taken proper care of by their families. This particular service helped assist children who may have not gotten the proper care from parents.
     This section went on to talk about juvenile systems and the history behind that. In the 1970's the court system began to take children who did not attend school or who ran away from home and where supervised by court and or incarnated for these things. Costello makes a great point when he describes the different views of a child who is under the child welfare system and a child who is under the juvenile system. Children who were under the child welfare system were looked at as innocent because they had very little say in their descions but for a child under the juvenile system where looked at as bad kids because they chose to do the wrong thing.
      I feel that if we offered youth programs and listened more to their thoughts and inputs we would decrease the amounts of kids on the street and into violence and trouble.  I feel that as a youth worker the youth should be the one to say what they want, what they like, so that we don't run into problems of violence.  It is very important to offer after school programs and activities for the youth in todays society.

youth in action

     Youth in Action is a great organization that allows young people to be the center of change. It gives them the ability to lead, to speak their minds and to have a say in their communities. I feel as if this is what is needed for many of our youth who feel of no importance in their communities.
     I can definitely resonate to this because in school I always felt like the teachers and staff were the ones leading and teaching and that our opinions, thoughts and feelings had not much say. I felt like I couldn't say my opinions or share ideas because I would just be shut down. Like talked about in this article my school gave us very little encouragement. They actually encouraged us all to apply to CCRI, as if they didn't believe we could do better than that.
     I'm glad that youth today have a chance to make a difference, to speak their minds and to share their ideas. This to me is a great opportunity for youth to be leaders and for youth who may feel like they are not Important to feel important and to feel like they can have a say and share their ideas. The youth today are the future and I feel as if they should be encouraged to strive for the best.

crystal introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Crystal Coelho and this is my fifth year here at RIC. I started off as a education major and changed in my junior year to Youth Development.  At first I was a little unsure about this major, but after taking many classes I came to love it. Im excited about seeing what this major will bring to me in the near future. I wil be graduating this year and am looking forward to what will come. I have always loved children and youth and have worked with them in many ways. In church, I have worked alot with the children and young teens. I have worked with younger children in school settings and continue to work with children kindergarten to fifth grade in an after school program at Henry Barnyard. im exicted about this course and even more exicted about my internship.