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Where public school resources fall short, the Juvenile Protection Association steps in to support some of Chicago’s most vulnerable students. by Hilary Masell Oswald | photo by Tommy Giglio
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“America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live.” – Jane Addams: founder of the U.S. Settlement House movement, teacher, Nobel Prize Winner
No one who works in urban education seems to remember a time when city schools only had to provide academic services to students. Perhaps those days never existed. No matter. Today, the reality is that schools don’t just teach students about the proverbial reading, writing and arithmetic; schools must also provide emotional, social, and support services to many, many students—and their families. The challenge is finding the time and resources to provide this help.
Just ask Hope Kyle-Mitchell. The director of CICS Bucktown, Ms. Kyle-Mitchell wonders at the depth of need she faces every day. “Every year, the demand gets higher,” she says. “We have to think about how we can get programs that support children’s mental and emotional health because if kids’ mental and emotional health is not restored, academic success is not possible.” That’s where the Juvenile Protection Association (JPA) steps in. A private non-profit organization dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse and neglect, JPA was founded more than 100 years ago by Jane Addams and her Hull House friends. Left: HOPE KYLE-MITCHELL, DIRECTOR OF CICS BUCKTOWN
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photo by Tommy Giglio
Today, JPA’s services include counseling for Chicago’s most vulnerable families, parent-infant services to prevent at-risk parents from abusing their children, and training to help other community groups identify child abuse and neglect.
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At schools throughout the city, JPA therapists meet with children weekly for individual or group counseling. They also provide teacher training sessions and host family nights when parents learn strategies for keeping their families emotionally healthy. JPA fills a void she could not otherwise fill, says Ruth Taxy, CICS Bucktown’s case manager. “In some of our families, there are so many layers to [their need],” says Ms. Taxy, who serves as team leader for the school’s special education teachers and manages the piles of paperwork that come with developing and maintaining students’ individualized education plans. “We need all the help we can get if we have any hope of educating the student.” JPA’s relationship with CICS began several years ago, when the two organizations had a board member in common. CICS’s leaders wanted help boosting parental involvement, so JPA launched a series of family nights, first at the Basil campus, then at Bucktown, West Belden, and Irving Park. Topics included positive discipline, building kids’ self-esteem, understanding and managing aggression, and keeping young children safe.
in high-need areas, that the school is willing to reach out. If we don’t offer help, who will?” Every week at CICS Bucktown, three JPA counselors meet individually or in small groups with about a dozen students. They’re children with absent parents and unstable homes, children who have been abused, children with health problems piled on top of learning disabilities. “You can’t imagine some of the challenges these students face,” Ms. Taxy says. The therapists’ consistency is key. If they miss a day because of a holiday or bad weather, they make it up. They never complain about Bucktown’s shortage of space, which leads them to meet with kids in unconventional places: at the ends of corridors, in large closets, just about anywhere they can find privacy. It’s not ideal, Ms. Kyle-Mitchell admits, but it’s the best she can do for now. In fact, making the best use of limited resources is an art form in urban education, she adds. “Even with all [JPA] does for us, our kids need so much more,” she says. So do her teachers. “We need time for general ed teachers and special ed teachers to gather around the table with the social worker and [JPA] therapist, so we can all brainstorm ideas and share information. There’s just not room in our day.” But the school has carved out time for JPA counselors and the social worker to discuss students’ needs, and Ms. Taxy says that ensuring that this conversation is a priority makes a big difference in the school’s ability to help the kids.
“We have to show parents, especially in high-need areas, that the school is willing to reach out. If we don’t offer help, who will?”
“To give parents support is really critical,” says Norma Irie, JPA’s coordinator for prevention. “They need good information, and they need a connection with other parents. It normalizes their experiences and reduces their anxiety.” Plus, it builds a stronger connection between the parent and the school—and, as Ms. Irie points out, piles of research show that parent involvement in school is a key factor in student success.
For all their good, family nights aren’t without their challenges. Even though JPA provides dinner and childcare, it’s not always easy to get parents to show up, particularly the single parents who often need support the most. “There’s a lot going on in these families’ lives,” Ms. Irie says. “Jobs and homework and a lot of stress. Schools really have to work to get the word out and promote the events.” Today, Bucktown is the only CICS campus that still offers family nights. As the leadership at other campuses changed, their relationships with JPA fizzled. But for Ms. Kyle-Mitchell, the service is invaluable: “We have to show parents, especially
It’s this shared mission that makes JPA such a valuable partner for urban schools like CICS Bucktown. “They come to us in the context of the school day with no financial output on our part or the families’ part. How much more valuable could an organization be?” Ms. Taxy says. “If we didn’t have them, I don’t know who would take on this case load. JPA is doing for these kids what public schools alone cannot.” TOP Left: RUTH TAXY, CASE MANAGER FOR CICS BUCKTOWN
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JPA Mission Statement: As a social welfare agency, JPA's mission is to protect and to promote the healthy development of children whose social and emotional well-being, or whose physical safety are in jeopardy, either because of neglector abuse at home or because of inimical interferences in the neighborhood, and, when necessary, to provide for the rehabilitation of families for such children.
JPA Provides the Following Services: Treatment and Counseling: to resolve the issues caused by abuse and neglect or that increase the likelihood of abuse and neglect Parent-Infant Services: to prevent high-risk families from abusing their children Consultation: to share direct service expertise and experience with public and private agencies involved in treating high-risk children and families Research and Publication: to contribute to knowledge in the field Professional Education and Technical Assistance: to train professionals practicing in the areas of child welfare, early childhood, developmental psychology, and pediatrics Advocacy: to support social policy and services which protect children and enhance their development and serve as a voice for children and families to ensure that children’s best interests are recognized Copy courtesy of juvenile.org
Visit www.juvenile.org for more info.
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Juvenile Protection Association’s Impact: Serving Children in Need Ruth Taxy, case manager at CICS Bucktown, sits in wonder every day, she says, at the elementary school children who can come to school and function “pretty well” while their home lives fall apart. “I don’t think most people—even teachers—are entirely aware of how difficult these kids’ lives are,” she says. “That the kids are here and learning, it’s amazing.” On a day in late February, Ms. Taxy reflects on the tremendous need she sees in the students she serves. “The challenges aren’t new,” she says. “We’re talking about divorce, lack of financial security, homelessness, abusive parents, parents who have drinking or drug problems, a lack of stability in living circumstances—the list is, sadly, long.” And while one of these problems would be very tough for a child to handle, the reality is that most of the children JPA serves are dealing with layers of family challenges, abuse, and uncertainty. And for most of these children, JPA and school are the only resources they have to cope with tumultuous home lives. Ms. Taxy points to a particularly poignant example: “A few weeks ago, we found out that a parent hit her child,” she says. “The situation at home is bad—the parent isn’t making enough money to make ends meet; she has to move; the child has diagnosed disabilities. It’s a mess.” Ms. Taxy, together with the social worker and school counselor, reported the incident to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the state-run child protection association. “Obviously, we are required by law to report instances of abuse,” Ms. Taxy says. “But no matter how many of these calls you have to make, it’s never a simple, easy thing”—particularly in cases such as this one because the DCFS case worker arrived on campus three weeks later. “What happens in the meantime?” Ms. Taxy asks. “We’re still dealing with the child on Monday morning. We’re still seeing that parent. We have to have resources that enable us to help that child as soon as we can, and that’s why groups like JPA are so valuable to us.” JPA counselors work with the same group of students from the first week of school to the end of the academic year. The students who will receive JPA services are identified prior to the start of school, and many of the students meet with their JPA counselors for years. Ms. Taxy sighs before she continues. “I wish that all these kids needed was academic instruction,” she says. “We need to teach and they need to learn, but along the way, we have to help them cope with very complicated lives. It’s just our reality.”