NCJ Number
171492
Journal
Juvenile Offender Solutions Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (March/April 1998) Pages: XVI-XVIII
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Boys Town of Philadelphia provides a residential, therapeutic milieu for juvenile girls in detention while they are awaiting resolution of their cases.
Abstract
Although the program is only for girls, it is operated by the network that began with Father Flanagan's Boys Town founded in Omaha, Nebraska. It thus retains the founding name. Boys Town in Philadelphia works with the city's Community Based Detention Services, a division of the Department of Human Services. Boys Town is one of the city's private agencies that contract to provide staff-secured detention in the community. Boys Town has no locks or bars on the windows, but the residents are monitored around the clock. Boys Town is equipped to house 18 girls at any given time, and it is currently operating at capacity. They employ 21 direct care workers, five administrators, and a secretary. The program operates on a point system. Each resident begins on the daily system, meaning that she must earn 10,000 points a day to have her privileges. For life skills such as following instructions, accepting a "no" answer, or greeting someone appropriately, the youths earn 500 to 2,000 points. Daily chores also earn points. At day's end, the girls meet with their youth care workers and total up the positive and negative points they have earned, and then they set goals for the next 24 hours. Residents are taught life skills and problem solving skills. The average length of stay at Boys Town is 24 days. The girls go to school from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday through Friday. Teachers are provided by the Philadelphia School District. Funding for Boys Town comes from city and State contracts, the Boys Town trust fund, and from citizen contributions.