Posted: September 4th, 2012 | by Yuval Sheer

August marks six months since the Families Rising initiative was launched, thanks to the forward thinking generosity of the Pinkerton Foundation. The program is a collaborative initiative between NYCJJ and the New York Foundling to provide evidence-based therapeutic services to children who come into contact with New York’s adult criminal courts.

The Foundling has been administering such programs, noteworthy for their consistent success, in the Family Court for the past five years. These services provide families and caregivers with essential rehabilitative tools to comprehensively address the complex behavioral and mental health issues that may have initially led to the child’s involvement with the criminal justice system. The Families Rising initiative has been operating in the adult courts in Queens and Manhattan for the last six months.

It is extremely gratifying to learn that several youth who completed the program with the support of their families earned youthful offender treatment, thus avoiding lengthy mandatory incarceration and the lifetime stigma of a criminal record. As this collaboration continues, we are confident that public safety and the lives of many children will be enhanced by Families Rising’s therapeutic services.

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