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448

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May 21, 2024

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1 ADVOCACY + PREVENTION RESEARCH PAPER Sikawayi Williams Old Dominion University HMSV 448 Interventions & Advocacy w/ Children Dr. K.C. Joachim March 31, 2024
2 My case study was based on the character named “Doughboy” from the movie Boy’s N the Hood. Doughboy, like many inner-city kids, comes from a broken home. He and his brother were born in a high-risk situation. My client’s first arrest happened when he was 11 years old. He was caught stealing from the corner store, and as a result of my client’s unfortunate incarceration at such a young age upon his release, there were no support measures/system for my client in place. There weren’t any kind of rehabilitation programs offered to my client. My client was very high risk, and he came from a community filled with drugs and violence, my client also suffers from behavioral issues, such as being prone to violent outburst, and he was often under the influence of alcohol/drugs which he had not received any treatment for. There are programs in place that could have been useful for my client. My client was a smart young man when if given the right opportunity, I feel he would have had a chance to make something out of his life. For example, my client had been in and out of prison since he was a very young boy. And even though there appeared to be prevention programs in place during the time frame in which the film was made, there weren’t any active advocates for the programs until the child/youth became entangled with the law. My client had been in and out of jail for a number of years, yet the system failed to place him in a program that would have helped him further his education. There is a national program called G.E.D program was started back in 1942, it was designed to help individuals who did not complete their high school education. This is a good program that is still in place today. While I was doing some of the research for this paper, I found out that if you are an inmate, you are the person who must reach out to the prison officials. The inmate must be asked to have their name put on a list in order to put things in motion for the paperwork to get started. There are some prisons who have an advocate for inmates, most don’t, so I can see as to why men/women caught
3 up in a system that do have successful programs but without an advocate the assistance in which an inmate would feel the goal may be almost out of reach for the inmate. There were several programs I felt like my client could have benefited from, but the most important one would have been Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Resources for Action, this program was designed by the CDC. The policies are strength-based approach, the policy is supposed to help parents and caregivers create a nurturing relationship, and safe environment. I felt like this would be most important for my client because he was a victim of emotional and mental abuse throughout his life. One prevention program that I would recommend for any young person who may be having a hard time during their teenage years would be (Job Corps). This is a program established in 1964 administrated by the Department of Labor. The program was designed to provide and improve job opportunities for economically disadvantaged teens, vocational training and life skills training. This program remains free to low-income students. When I was doing research for this paper, I found that there are many good preventive programs in place. But the issue is even though the programs are there, if no one is reporting it until it’s too late then the programs aren’t helping. Unless the child comes forward or a concerned neighbor comes forward that child has almost no chance of making it out of his/her situation. We are living in different times, and I feel like we need to recognize things for what they are. Most people don’t speak up because they are afraid of the backlash from the parents and the community, and not because they don’t know what’s going on in the house next door is wrong. The research shows most people will report physical abuse but when it comes to verbal abuse or mental abuse, they tend to be silent.
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4 What I would propose is that human service professionals work hand and hand with their local police department. Walk the neighborhoods getting to know the community, because the older ladies and gentlemen who sit on the porch most of the day will begin to talk to the human service professional, even if they don’t talk with the police officer. Once the human service professionals have become involved in the community I would want to establish a permanent presence in the neighborhood schools, that would give the children an opportunity for us to speak with them one on one. This would also present an opportunity to partner with the local school system. I am aware that there are procedures in place to call social services in the case of suspected child abuse by the teacher or a staff member. I feel like having a person in place in the school who is also working with the community could only help strengthen the relationship between school and home. Lastly, I would build on the human service professionals’ relationship with the community to have them focus on much needed life skill programs, and other vital programs that can help the parents with programs they may not know their entitled to. If we are going to be more effective, then we have to reach out to our children/youth before they become so damaged we won’t be able to help them. For me, this is a very sobering thought, but the truth is I found most organizations say they don’t have the resources available to have a permanent school liaison, they rely on the school to call when are needed and that’s too late.
5 References Blogged for Students . (2022, December 22). Retrieved from The Evolution of the GED: Eight Decades of Student Success: https://ged.com/blog/the-evolution-of-the-ged-eight- decades-of-student-success/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . (2022, April 6). Retrieved from Prevention strategies/child abuse and neglect/violence prevention/injury center/: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/prevention.html U.S. Department of Labor . (n.d.). Retrieved from Employment and Training Administration: dol.gov/agencies/eta/jobcorps