COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE
 HEADLINE NEWS                                                                                                                                                                                                             CAICA EN FRANÇAIS
 

CAICA     HOME   │   NEWS  │  PROGRAM NEWS  │  STORIES │  DEATHS  │   WWASPS   │  PARENTS' CORNER  │  MISSION  │ SITE MAP │  LINKS & RESOURCES
  _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

              AUTISM  │ LITIGATION  │  LEGISLATION  │ JUVENILE JUSTICE  │ MENTAL HEALTH │ LIGHTER SIDE │  EN FRANCAIS  │ COMMENTS  │ LIST SERVE  │  BLOGS  
 

 

Crowder wary of plan for camps

By Jill Taylor

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Legislators are promising to provide enough money to reopen Martin County's successful Juvenile Offender Training Center as a model and create three more just like it throughout the state, but Sheriff Robert Crowder said he wants to see the numbers on paper before he gets too excited.

"I'll have to see it in black and white," Crowder said Wednesday of reports that the state House and Senate were near agreement on setting aside $10.5 million for a four-facility "STAR Camp program" that would replace the military-style boot camps that have become increasingly controversial with the death of a 14-year-old youth at the Bay County camp in January.

 

If divided evenly among four STAR Camps, that would amount to about $2.6 million for each facility, far less than the $3.7 million Crowder said he needs to run the program properly. His budget was $2.2 million this year.

Budget officials in Tallahassee said the amount would work out to about $100 a day for each young man in the program.

"That's not enough," Crowder said. "I hear all this good talk and I get optimistic . . . I believe what they finally bring to us in writing."

The Martin County center has been phasing out employees and is scheduled to close at the end of June. Crowder said it would take about eight months to get it staffed and ready to operate again.

Legislators, led by Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, want to shut down the state's seven boot camps and replace them with the STAR Camps that will emphasize self-esteem, family involvement and teaching youths how to avoid trouble as they return to their communities.

Those have been keys to the success of the Martin County program, which has an enviable record with more than 80 percent of the youths who finish the three-phase program staying out of trouble.

But Crowder said he would close the center this year rather than continue the annual routine of asking for special allocations when the approved budget runs out.

If the legislature comes up with enough money to create the STAR model, Crowder said he would be happy to help with training and devising a program model, but he said he needs to know the state is committed to the program for a long haul.

DISCLAIMER, WARNINGS, AND NOTICE TO READERS: This website does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content collectively, the "Materials") contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained on this website (the "Service"). None of the contributors, sponsors, administrators or anyone else connected with this website in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information or for your use of the information contained in these web pages. All information provided using this website is only intended to be general summary information to the public.

FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

REFERRALS: CAICA is not a referral agency. CAICA does not refer to or promote facilities or transport companies for children or teens. CAICA warns parents that the parent pay / parent choice programs ie. Residential Treatment Centers, Therapeutic Boarding Schools, Behavior Modification Programs, Christian Programs, Positive Peer Culture Programs, etc., are not regulated by the Federal Government and that it is a "Buyer Beware" industry. CAICA provides the following for parents: Message to Parents, Help for Distraught and Desperate Parents, and Questions to Ask and Warning Signs.

© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008