Ange's Testimony

My name is Ange and I have been a youth advocate for Juvenile Law Center  for almost 5 years. 

Placement isn’t something a kid should go through, especially for small stuff. When I was younger, my parents thought they didn’t know how to handle some of my behavior. They didn’t know where else to turn to get help or support. When I was 15, I was initially put on house arrest. But I got frustrated about staying in the house all the time and ended up breaking curfew. I also got in trouble for trying to take off my bracelet. I had friends over for a party and everyone stepped outside for a little bit. They were just beyond where I was allowed to be with my bracelet on. I wanted to be with my friends because I was 15 and that mattered to me so I tried to take off my bracelet. I got sent to placement for that.

In placement, I watched youth getting restrained when they were in trouble — like when people fought, both would get restrained. One girl got arrested for fighting staff. They argued first, and then the girl got restrained. The staff person also tried to hit the girl back. For fighting, everyone had to stand in the middle of an empty room and do an apology and analyze what we did wrong. If you moved while talking, you would get restrained. I’ve seen people get restrained the whole time at the juvenile placement facility I was in, one person a day would be restrained. I’ve also seen youth in shackles. If people had grievances, you were allowed to put the pink slips in a grievance box. They were addressed by a therapist through group therapy or one on one. Sometimes when youth had issues with staff, they would change which staff worked with that person. Staff had favoritism, and you would also know when they were mad at you or had an attitude if you complained about them. An ombuds person should be everywhere. If kids don’t have a safe way to share a concern, things are going to escalate for that child in placement. 

Placement didn’t do anything for me and doesn’t do anything for the youth. It makes the youth not want to repeat the offense again, but it doesn’t help - it doesn’t help with school. It delayed when I was able to graduate. The placements I went to had me complete electives for over a year that didn’t transfer or count for me to be able to graduate. Even when I did come back to regular schools, I felt really unprepared. I was behind.  When I was in placement I could tell the work wasn’t on grade level. Some kids would speak up and ask why we were going worksheets. Those that spoke up weren’t taken seriously. An ombuds person could even help improve education outcomes for youth who went to placement. 

Finally, even the rules of probation are unrealistic and too strict. I wasn’t able to speak up about this either. For example, in my case, I wasn’t supposed to have contact with the co-defendant in my case. This order was made by the judge, but this person was my best friend and lived above me in the same apartment building so this was unrealistic. I don’t know why they made it so strict. I was a kid and I was just looking to have fun with my friend. My parents weren’t trying to help me figure probation out either. They would just tell probation when I wasn’t following the rules. We need to substitute placement for better solutions for kids. I think this starts with an ombuds person position created for the city of Philadelphia.

Banner photo credit - Eskay Lim via Unsplash