Boarding Schools for Girls

An Oct. 8 conference in Springfield, Massachusetts is designed to address the range of issues facing at-risk girls and the professionals who work with them. A Sept. 8 article in the Massachusetts newspaper The Republican provided the following details:

Educators, social workers, service providers and anyone who interacts with at-risk girls are invited to the fifth annual "Through Her Eyes: The Experience of Girls and the Juvenile Justice System" conference.

The event, with a theme this year of "Empowering Girls Through Social Change," focuses on how to best meet the needs of female juvenile offenders in Western Massachusetts.

Ja'Net Smith, interim program director for the Terri Thomas Girls Program, a detention, stabilization and short-term treatment program for girls, said the juvenile justice system has primarily focused on males.

"The way it's approached is through a male model," Smith said. "We feel it's important to focus on best practices with girls. The people that work with girls day in and day out. I don't think they often have venues like this where they can network with each other and hear from experts regarding the work they do."

Registration fees for the conference, which will be held in Springfield's MassMutual Center, are $120 (general admission) or $100 (students). For more about the conference visit www.throughhereyes.org.

Labels: at-risk youth, conference, juvenile offenders

Posted By: Aspen/CRC