Ghetto: A part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by minority group or groups. That’s all it is. An area that is occupied by those less fortunate that we see as a negative situation.Growing up in a predominately white area, I was not subjected to the lifestyle that is associated with living in a ghetto. I do not know much about this living situation that the people who live there go through on a day to day basis. That does not mean that I have not made myself aware of some of the stigmatizing issues that individuals from the ghetto deal with, especially juveniles.

I have had my experience working in the juvenile justice system at a detention center. The children that I have witnessed come in and out of the system have had certain aspects in their environment that connected them. One of the main connections is that the juvenile court system felt they were “unfit” for our society and needed to be detained in a certain “holding place” until they could decide what would happen next in their life.

1899 in Cook County, Illinois the first juvenile court system was set up. The basis was to create a system of reform for the children who were misbehaving and breaking the rules of society. They shared the same passion we have today to create a better life for the children under the doctrine "parens patriae", which in Latin means “parent of the country”. This doctrine meant that the children became a ward of the state and the state had power over them.

Fast forward to current time. Juvenile detention is a major institution, kids are coming in and out of the system, re-entering the “real” world and coming back, continuing drug use, continually being victims of abuse, and so on and so forth. My only question as a future social worker is, what is being done to fix this? And the answer I have seen, you’d be surprised, is nothing. When the court sends the children to a detention center they don’t realize how dramatically their lives are about to change. While a judge has the opportunity to go home at night and rest easy knowing he has made the “right” decision, the child is transferred to a facility and goes through the intake form and has to adapt to this new environment. This environment can lead them to become even more of a problem by having connections with new children who are there for different reasons and can influence them.

I'm not saying that in all instances the judge makes the wrong decision because some children do require these services. However, there are other environmental aspects that are not taken into consideration. Violence at home is the main issue I wanted to tackle in this article. Juveniles do not always come from a place where they are being raised with proper care and have access to support services immediately for help. When they go to the courts, per say for running away, they are thrown into the system as an AWOL risk. What happens though if they were running away from being sexually or physically abused? Male and female juveniles can be subjected to living situations like this and the problem is the courts do not always look at it in that sense and think the answer is to enter them into the system instead of getting the children aid right away.

Some of the places that the juveniles are placed are not always set up to meet the needs of the children for whatever reason they may come in for. For example, what if a child is traumatized from being raped at home and acts out every time an older male approaches them the child is likely to be seen as having a behavioral problem. rather than the system helping the juvenile get counseling, and get the care and services that are required.

While others are interested in playing the political field and focused on making money, some of the juveniles in our system are suffering from not getting proper treatment. The example that we set for these children is not the standard we should have. These children are our futures whether or not we agree with what they do on the surface level. If we just take the time to explore the reasons why the juveniles act the way that they do, maybe we would be able to understand them better and create an environment of care. This way may also help with the fact that children who are in the system, tend to stay in the system. If we get quality assistance for the children, maybe we can start to see a major change. So this is my public service announcement: Let’s care for our children and understand them, rather than throw them somewhere without assistance. This is a problem that needs attention and has been ignored, let’s make that change.

Instead of placing these children in detention centers when they are showing signs of abuse, or severe mental health issues, let’s get them the help they need. The help they deserve. We as society need to make services available for the children and advocate to end this suffering some youth face. So my question to the readers, how can you help the children?