Challenged youth endangered.

Byline: Edward P. Kelley

COLUMN: AS I SEE IT

It is exactly in hard economic times when societies make their priorities known by where they choose to spend their money. The current proposal before the Legislature would cut $12 million from the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) budget. That is a clear indication that caring for and rehabilitating troubled, financially challenged, and poorly educated youth are not at the top of the priority list.

Cutting the services they receive from the state is not only a shortsighted plan; it is one that simply will not work.

When DYS youth are released back to the streets sooner, without adequate treatment, they are more of a threat. Violence repeats. Slashing $12 million would cut deeply into DYS and its statewide provider network. Overall, it's not a true savings for our commonwealth's well-being.

In 1988, Massachusetts had one of the best juvenile justice and child welfare systems in the country. Two years later, DYS sustained drastic budget cuts. Programs became overcrowded. Kids slept on gymnasium floors because they no longer had beds, and they were not getting education or therapy. It hit an all-time low in 2005 when two suicides shocked the entire DYS system. In response, DYS funding went up again, and DYS officials have worked diligently to restore quality services.

It shouldn't take a tragic event for people to understand that this money is a critical lifeline out of despair.

Such deep cuts this year would again be devastating for many. Decisions would have to be made to cut services or beds in facilities where DYS youth live and receive care. If DYS is forced to cut medical care, it could lead to more costly emergency room visits - an expense taxpayers would shoulder. More children could be denied mental health counseling, family support, and education. These services help youth turn their lives around, graduate from high school, find gainful work, and send them into adulthood, confident and capable.

One program RFK Children's Action Corps provides for DYS youth is the RFK Springfield Secure Treatment Program, a residential, educational program for boys. The school educated 95 boys over the last year. Seven students received high school diplomas - which is no small feat for our population. Drastic budget cuts would compromise the school's capacity to teach. If youths leave programs uneducated, they are more vulnerable to repeat activities that will lead them back to the correctional system, and the cycle continues - often at a much higher cost to society than it would to keep them on a path toward productive citizenship.

Case in point: In 2003, the Legislature gave DYS specific funds to hire mental health clinicians and teachers to improve educational services. This targeted investment led to a dramatic decline in recidivism - down 26 percent for males and 5 percent for females - an 11-year low.

A report by the National Juvenile Justice Network released last December indicates that we are right in our quest to offer specialized, individualized treatment for youth. The report, "Advances in Juvenile Justice, 2007-2008," said: "In this past year we have seen a swelling wave of acknowledgement that institutionalizing youth in large facilities, far from their families and communities, is harmful to children and public safety and gives the state a poor return on the dollar. States are closing down large facilities, diverting youth away from detention, establishing smaller, more therapeutic placements, and keeping youth at home under community supervision."

So, let's not turn back the clock now. At minimum, the DYS budget should remain at $166 million. These young people need no further setbacks to receiving a continuum of services from our state child welfare and juvenile justice system as they go from residential programs back into the community.

Edward P. Kelley is president and chief executive officer of RFK Children's Action Corps, which operates 22 child welfare programs in nine communities across Massachusetts, including several in Westboro and Lancaster. The agency celebrates its 40th anniversary this June. He is also a founding member of Citizens for Juvenile Justice.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Edward P. Kelley