CHOICES FOR JUVENILES

After several years of a Choices Program for adult offenders, the program director and advisory board members decided that the program could be adapted to the juvenile population rather easily. At first it would be geared to at risk youth. Later, while still in keeping with the original idea, the program was opened up to all youth in the community who would want a better way to deal with everyday conflicts and who were ages 8 to 18. Currently the juvenile program boasts 7 juvenile assistant facilitators along with 23 adult facilitators both from the community and graduates of the Lehigh County Prison program. 

The children really enjoy having former inmate facilitators to lead and guide them through the program. Those who are considered at risk youth are further helped because they have adults who have been through the system to help steer them down the correct path. The adults feel that they have taken much away from the community in the past and now is their chance to give something back by diverting a child away from the criminal justice system.  Many of the adult facilitators enjoy the privilege of being able to bring their spouse and children into the program. Russell Tillman and Ed Johnson II have both expressed their gratefulness that they can now participate in these workshops with their families. The workshop that has done so much for them while in jail is now helping them to help their children avoid the path that leads to addiction, institutions and death. The program also helps bond the families together and children find explanations and reasons they can understand for their parents' past mistakes. They also find it within themselves to forgive and move on.