I just got back from an inevitable non-meeting.
30 minutes of driving on life risking highway to meet with someone I knew wouldn't be there. The joys of convening a youth justice conference.
I'm not really sure why I still do them. I do believe wholeheartedly in the process on so many levels but I'm sure someone else could do it.
It pushes my comfort zone which is always a good thing. All the kids I have worked with are images of a devastating cliche. So unsupported, illiterate, drug fucked, lost. Very much living a life with no expectations. It is shocking to see and pretty disheartening. A few can be affected by the conferences. They often come back. Recidivism rates are much better than for court, but still it is not like you can fix a lifetime and a community and a family and a habit and a lack of education in a couple of hours.
And the youth services that we end up referring the kids to are struggling to support them while scrounging for funding each year to keep a door open and to cover their petrol costs to drive everywhere to see the kids who aren't home.
And then I come home to my kids who are at school with these kids at a school that rates in the red on the My Schools website. And encourage them to go to a piano lesson.
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