Education Not Incarceration

Learning Rights is committed to working with children who are in or at-risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system.

One of our projects involving children at-risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system:
From 2009 to 2010 Learning Rights’ School-to-Prison Pipeline Reversal Project (“Reversal Project”) was located at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Sylmar Juvenile Court. The project was launched in November 2008. The Reversal project aims to address the staggering numbers of youth with undiagnosed or untreated mental health concerns and/or learning disabilities entering the juvenile justice system. The Reversal project utilizes a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together the expertise of Child and Family Guidance Center, a well-established San Fernando Valley based mental health provider, and Learning Rights Law Center, an education-based legal advocacy organization, to assess and identify the unique socio-emotional, mental health and educational needs of San Fernando Valley youth charged with “low risk” crimes. The Reversal project is fully funded for 18-months under a Soros Justice Fellowship through the Open Society Institute. The Reversal project was limited to youth residing in the San Fernando Valley Area who are considered low risk offenders (i.e non 707(b) felony offenses) and are released pending disposition (i.e released on Community Detention Program).

The Process and the Product

Once a youth is referred to the Reversal Project, either by Probation, a juvenile judge, a local CBO or by a child’s attorney, a Reversal Project representative will make contact with the parent to determine whether he/she qualifies and is interested in participating in the project. Once parental consent is obtained, an Education Advocate will gather education records and conduct a document review. Meanwhile, a therapist from Child and Family Guidance Center will work with the youth and their family to conduct a comprehensive mental health assessment. The information gathered from the education review and the mental health assessment will be used to create a Multi-Disciplinary Report and Recommendations (”Report”). The Report will be prepared by Learning Rights Law Center Education Advocate Shantel Vachani, JD/MSW, in collaboration with Child and Family Guidance Center. The Report will be submitted to the court and copies will be made available to all relevant parties prior to the adjudicatory hearing. The information in the Report is meant to provide all relevant parties with a more complete and holistic understanding of the youth’s needs, and in doing so, take the first step toward ensuring that these needs are considered in the adjudication, disposition and post-disposition process.
While the finding for the Reversal Project has ended, Learning Rights made a systemic impact in the area and continue to seek funding to continue and expand the project.