By age 16 Lauren had been charged with possession with intent to deliver a total of three times. She also has charges of robbery, aggravated assault and disorderly conduct for a total of four felonies. Lauren lives with her mother, father and older brother. While she appears to have a good relationship with her mother and father, there is a lot of frustration in the house that may be caused by Lauren’s delinquent/arrest history. Before placement with JusticeWorks YouthCare she was placed in a program for drug sellers where she AWOL’d after two and a half months. The last grade she had completed in school was the eighth grade.
Since I began working with Lauren in April, 2008 she has been a pleasure to work with and has progressed in her treatment every month. Although there were times that the girls’ dorm was on modification, it was said that Lauren was not involved with those incidents. If Lauren was at fault for something, she would not hesitate to inform me and staff. During placement, Lauren has maintained consistent, positive behavior, which resulted in her positive discharge in September, 2008. Since Lauren’s discharge she has successfully completed Reti-Wrap and enrolled in school where she continues to do well.
Overall, Lauren has reported to her probation officer and has had all negative drug screens. Her probation officer has commented on how well she is doing and states that he is going to recommend that she be discharged at the next court hearing. Lauren and her family are continuing to work on building the family relationship and to help them do so they have gone to an intake appointment at COMAR. Lauren has been put back in her regular grade (12th) and is passing all her classes. The family stays on top of Lauren and will not allow her to stay home from school for no apparent reason. Currently, Lauren is working on finding an after school or seasonal job and getting her driver’s permit.
On a final note, it was reported to me that the police offers who originally arrested Lauren recently saw her in the neighborhood and commended her on how well she looked telling her that they could see she was a different person. They could not believe she was the same person!
Thank you to April Williams, Philadelphia JusticeWorks for doing whatever it takes to achieve a positive outcome!