Hennepin county program targets high - risk kids

by Ross Corson

The Wilder Research Center, a non-profit research organization based in St. Paul, announced its review of Target Early Intervention, (TEI), a Hennepin County program designed to provide alternatives for young juveniles. It found that TEI has been successful in reducing criminal behavior and improving school attendance.
The program, which started three years ago, is an intensive, long-term effort to effect change in young juveniles identified as being at the highest risk for future criminal behavior. TEI is part of the County Attorney's "Delinquents Under 10" initiative, which each year handles more than 200 police referrals involving children under ten who have been involved in crime. The average age at their first offense was 8-9 years old. The most common offenses were shoplifting, assault, arson or unintentional fire damage, property damage and theft.
"Unfortunately, there are some children in our communities who are getting into serious trouble at a very young age," said County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. "If we don't do something, these kids could grow up to become career criminals, with enormous costs for society and the criminal justice system. TEI reaches out to these kids and their families, offering intensive support to do better in school and in life. This new support shows some promising results and indicates that we can make a difference."
"I am particularly pleased to see the impact that the Targeted Early Intervention program has had on school attendance," said Dr. David Sanders, Director of Hennepin County Department of Children and Family Services. "Getting children to school and keeping them in school is a priority for Hennepin County. This is especially important given the relationship between poor school attendance and delinquency."
Four years ago, with rising numbers of police reports on very young children, the County Attorney's Office began to study ways to prevent these children from continuing to slide into lifelong trouble. In 1997, TEI began serving a small group of extremely high-risk children. A total of 49 children have been served since then and 35 are currently enrolled. Most are boys from Minneapolis.
The program includes services coordinated by a team in Hennepin County. They assist families in providing stable homes and support the children in staying out of trouble and doing well in school. Each child in the program gets intensive help from staff in the agencies providing these services: Division of Indian Work, Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, Pillsbury Neighborhood Services, Camden Neighborhood Services, and YMCA (Hiawatha Branch).
These children are growing up in high risk situations: 92 percent live in families with at least one child in child protection or child welfare; 80 percent live in families with a history of domestic abuse; and 78 percent have mothers with a criminal history.
Yet, after 18 months of participation in TEI, the Wilder Research Center found that the TEI children had just half as many police referrals for criminal offenses during the 6-month study period. Those crimes that were committed in the TEI group were also much less serious than the comparison group. Also, TEI participants were about half as likely to miss school as the comparison group. Despite serious academic problems, teachers and parents said that the situation was improving for the TEI kids.
The children and parents also expressed high satisfaction with TEI, due to the fact that their lives were changing for the better. TEI kids have a better sense of right and wrong, and an increased ability to get along with teachers and peers at school. One of the best parts of the program from the children's point of view, was the personal interest their workers took in their school activities and sports. The report suggests additional assistance for other members of TEI families, more intensive school support, and access to mental health services.

To obtain a full report visit the website www.hennepinattorney.org