Advertisements
Advertisements
Childrensrights.org states that in 2019, more than 672,000 US children were in foster care. Numerous amounts of research states that Foster care children are at risk for many things; increased criminal activity, debilitated mental health and poverty. More specifically, "Over one-fourth have spent at least one night in jail...over 15 percent had been convicted of a crime. This compares with only 3.2 percent of the general population who were on probation, in jail, or on parole in 2005. (Barth, 1990) (Alexander & Huberty, 1993) (Courtney et al, 2001) (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005)."' As of 2019, 80% of foster care kids have mental health issues which is a whopping number compared to the 18-22% of the general population that have mental health issues. Additionally, 50% of children aging out of the foster care system become homeless within 6 months. What does this mean? This means we must have some kind of action.
Techie Youth seeks to rectify this situation by teaching at risk youth how to assimilate into capitalist working culture via technology, a sector that is expected to reach 5 trillion dollars by December, 2021. The technology industry is a lucrative one, and so by teaching children how to take advantage of this, programs like Techie Youth seek to help them.
While I agree that technology training is important, it does not do enough to satisfy all the three areas of weakness that Foster care youth are struggling with; It creates opportunity for these youth to get jobs, eliminating the need for committing crime ( numerous statistics reports, like the 2016 FBI crime rates, indicate that lack of income is the culprit behind petty crimes) and it also helps against poverty. However, what about mental health? I propose that these programs include a mental health initiative-- there are so many ways you can show someone how to work a computer or follow the stock market, however if they are suffering from depression then they may struggle to stay motivated in learning these tips.
According to ZipRecruiter.com, the average therapist in New York City, for reference, is paid about $70,000 a year. We need funding for these programs to be able to afford therapists-- a ratio of 1:14 for therapists to youth should be applied, as 74% of therapists from around the US have said this is an ideal amount of clients to meet with on a weekly basis. If the program is teaching 200 students, there should be a budget for 14 therapists to work with these students. Mental health is a huge issue that can be the reason behind a lack of motivation. If there is a lack of motivation, a lack for a thirst for life, there is no amount of technology programs that you can enroll a student in that will make a difference on them. I am open to critique and questions, etc. What do you think of my proposition?