[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                 EXAMINING WAYS TO IMPROVE THE JUVENILE
                  JUSTICE SYSTEM AND SUPPORT AMERICA'S
                              YOUNG PEOPLE

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               Before The

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________


              HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 17, 2022

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-45

                               __________

  Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce
  
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]  


        Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
        
                               __________

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
57-090 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2025                  
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------         
       
                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Marina Islands            GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida            TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California          JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 BURGESS OWENS, Utah
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BOB GOOD, Virginia
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan, Vice Chairman  LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           MARY MILLER, Illinios
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina        MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MICHELLE STEEL, California
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              CHRIS JACOBS, New York
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida  VACANCY
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                VACANCY
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES

                  SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon, Chairwoman

ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina           RUSS FULCHER, Idaho,
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut              Ranking Member
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland               SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisonsin
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina (Ex 
    (Ex Officio)                         Officio)
                         
                         C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on May 17, 2022.....................................     1

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

    Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil 
      Rights and Human Services..................................     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     4
    Fulcher, Hon. Russ, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil 
      Rights and Human Services..................................     5
        Prepared statement of....................................     6

                               WITNESSES

    Burton, Lisette, Chief Policy and Practice Advisor, 
      Association of Children's Residential and Community 
      Services (ACRC)............................................     8
        Prepared statement of....................................    11
    Davis, Hasan A., Founder and Director, Hasan Davis Solutions 
      L.L.C......................................................    19
        Prepared statement of....................................    21
    Loux, Alan, President and CEO, Rawhide Youth Services........    27
        Prepared statement of....................................    29
    Kolivoski, Karen, Associate Professor, Howard University 
      School of Social Work......................................    31
        Prepared statement of....................................    34

                         ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS

    Chairwoman Bonamici:
        Arts Education for All Act...............................    60
        Report dated April 2020, from the Education Commission of 
          the States.............................................    61

                        QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

    Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
        Ms. Lisette Burton.......................................    75

 
                     EXAMINING WAYS TO IMPROVE THE
                  JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM AND SUPPORT
                         AMERICA'S YOUNG PEOPLE

                              ----------                              


                         Tuesday, May 17, 2022

                  House of Representatives,
   Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:05 a.m., at 
1275 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Suzanne Bonamici 
(Chairwoman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Bonamici, Leger Fernandez, Bowman, 
Scott (Ex Officio), Fulcher, Thompson, McClain, Fitzgerald, and 
Foxx (Ex Officio).
    Staff present: Britany Alston, Staff Assistant; Rashage 
Green, Director of Education Policy; Christian Haines, General 
Counsel; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clark; Sheila Havenner, 
Director of Information Technology; Danyelle Honore, Fellow; 
Emily Hopkins, Fellow; Stephanie Lalle, Communications 
Director; Andre Lindsay, Policy Associate; Kota Mizutani, 
Deputy Communication Director; Max Moore, Policy Associate; 
Casey Peeks, Professional staff; Kayla Pennebecker, Staff 
Assistant; Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director; Banyon Vassar, 
Deputy Director of Information Technology; Sam Varie, Press 
Secretary; ArRone Washington, Clerk and Special Assistant to 
the Staff Director; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; 
Gabriel Bisson, Minority Staff Assistant; Mini Ganesh, Minority 
Staff Assistant; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education 
and Human Resources Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director 
of Operations; Audra McGeorge, Minority Communications 
Director; and Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and 
Deputy Director of Education Policy.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Good morning. We will countdown from 
five and then we will start. Five, four, three, two, one. The 
Subcommittee on Human Rights and Human Services will come to 
order. Welcome everyone. I note that a quorum is present.
    I note for the subcommittee that Mr. Neguse of Colorado is 
permitted to participate in today's hearing with the 
understanding that his questions will come only after all 
members of the subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are 
present had an opportunity to question the witnesses.
    The subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on 
examining ways to improve the juvenile justice system and to 
support America's young people. This is a hybrid hearing, 
excuse me, pursuant to House Resolution 8 and the regulations 
thereto. All microphones, both in the room and on the platform, 
will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary 
background noise.
    Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting 
themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish 
to seek recognition. When members wish to speak or seek 
recognition, they should unmute themselves and allow for a 
pause of 2 seconds to ensure the microphone picks up their 
speech.
    I also ask that members please identify themselves before 
they speak. Members who are participating in person should not 
be logged onto the remote platform to avoid feedback, echoes 
and distortion. Members participating remotely shall be 
considered present in the proceeding when they are visible on 
camera, and they shall be considered not present when they are 
not visible on camera. The only exception to this is if they 
are experiencing technical difficulty and inform committee 
staff of such difficulty.
    If any member experiences technical difficulty during the 
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, make sure 
you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call the 
committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance. 
Should the Chair step away for any reason, another majority 
member is hereby authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's 
absence.
    In order to ensure that the committee's 5-minute rule is 
adhered to, excuse me, staff will be keeping track of time 
using the committee's digital timer on the remote platform. For 
members participating in person, a timer will be broadcast in 
the committee room on the television monitor as part of the 
platform gallery view, and visible in its own thumbnail window. 
The committee room timer will not be in use.
    For members participating remotely, this will be visible in 
gallery view in its own thumbnail window on the remote 
platform. Members are asked to wrap up promptly when their time 
has expired.
    Finally, while the recent guidance of the Office of 
Attending Physician has made mask wearing optional at this 
time, please note that we have in our midst, both at the member 
and staff levels, individuals who are immunocompromised and/or 
who have immediate family members who are immunocompromised as 
well, as who are not vaccinated either due to medical reasons, 
or because the vaccine is not yet available to children under 
the age of five. Therefore, the committee strongly recommends 
that masks continue to be worn out of concern for the safety of 
the unvaccinated and immunocompromised committee members and 
staff, and their families.
    Pursuant to committee rule 8(c), opening statements are 
limited to the chair and the ranking member. This allows us to 
hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with 
adequate time to ask questions. I now recognize myself for the 
purpose of making an opening statement.
    Today's hearing will focus on how we can improve the 
juvenile justice system and better support America's young 
people. This is a particularly relevant topic as we commemorate 
the 68th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown 
vs. Board of Education. Despite the initial progress we have 
made following this historic decision, our public schools are 
more segregated by race and class today than at any time since 
the 1960's.
    We know racially isolated and under resourced schools 
contribute to the school to prison pipeline and harm student's 
academic and social development. Children flourish when they 
have consistent nurturing adults in their lives. When these 
supports are not available, children are more likely to become 
delinquent, and at risk of being removed from their home or 
family.
    Today tens of thousands of children are in out of home 
placements, both in juvenile detention facilities and 
congregate care facilities. Tragically, many of these 
facilities have often been found to increase exposure to 
trauma, and negatively affect children's education all in the 
name of treatment. The use of congregate care facilities 
instead of investing in a humane child welfare system, can have 
dire consequences.
    My home State of Oregon has shifted away from, and 
overhauled accountability for, the congregate care system. 
Largely thanks to the advocacy of my friend and former 
colleague from the Oregon legislature, Oregon State Senator 
Sara Gelser Blouin. Last year I met with Senator Blouin and a 
survivor of the congregate care system, Uvea Spezza-Lopin.
    She had been sent to a facility out of State, and regularly 
sedated, restrained, and locked in a seclusion room. Uvea 
showed great courage by sharing her story and standing up 
against abuse in the system. I also met with advocates in my 
office just last week who also spoke out about unfair and 
abusive treatment.
    We must follow their inspiration and advocacy and act to 
improve these systems. In addition to the steep challenges of 
congregate care facilities, the juvenile justice system is 
still falling short of its intended purpose. To focus on the 
best interests of children by rehabilitating and reintegrating, 
rather than punishing them.
    An under resourced juvenile justice system, coupled with 
zero tolerance policies and increased policing in schools, has 
led to a system that disproportionately policies the lives of 
black and brown boys and girls offering no meaningful 
intervention, and eventually feeding into the adult criminal 
justice system. In other words, the juvenile justice system has 
become a core contributor to the school to prison pipeline.
    The Federal Government has an important role to play here. 
In 1974 Congress passed the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and 
Prevention Act, which implemented three core components. First, 
it established core protections that states must follow to 
protect children in the juvenile justice system.
    Second, it authorized formula grants to help states run 
their juvenile justice systems, and finally, it created the 
justice department's Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency 
Prevention, or the OJJDP, to oversee juvenile justice programs. 
In 2018, Congress updated this law, to strengthen the core 
protections for children under JJDPA and focused on addressing 
racial disparities in the juvenile justice system.
    Although this reauthorization was the result of bipartisan 
efforts to align juvenile justice systems with evidence-based 
policies, many states have experienced challenges implementing 
the law. For example, the Trump administration did not provide 
adequate implementation guidance to states, even though many 
states were noncompliant with their responsibilities under 
JJDPA.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has also proposed enormous challenges 
for states to implement the requirements and monitor State 
juvenile justice facilities. As we continue to recover, we hope 
to work with states and the OJJDP to provide the guidance 
necessary, and help states meet children's needs.
    A recent GAO report requested by Chairman Scott also found 
that inadequate coordination between local, State, and Federal 
agencies can result in abuse in residential facilities serving 
youth in foster care, and youth with disabilities, going 
undetected or unaddressed. In addition to the GAO report, I 
join my colleagues in seeking additional oversight action from 
the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human 
Services.
    To address these challenges, we must secure the necessary 
funding that the Federal Government needs to fulfill the 
promise of JJDPA, and meet the needs of America's youth. One 
piece of legislation to help achieve that goal is the Stronger 
Child Abuse and Treatment Act, which went through this 
committee. This bill increases funding for child abuse 
prevention and treatment to keep more families together, and to 
lower the number of young people funneled into out of home 
placement.
    I was pleased to support this legislation when it passed 
the House last year, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to 
take it up, to follow through on our promise to protect our 
Nation's children from abuse. The work we do today will affect 
generations of children who need support, support-we can 
provide, to lead fulfilling lives.
    Our discussion and our commitment to strengthening the 
juvenile justice and child welfare systems must be treated with 
the urgency this important issue demands. Thank you, I look 
forward to a meaningful discussion today, and I now recognize 
Ranking Member Fulcher for his opening statement.
    [The Statement of Chairwoman Bonamici follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil 
                       Rights and Human Services

    Today's hearing will focus on how we can improve the juvenile 
justice system and better support America's young people.
    This is a particularly relevant topic as we commemorate the 68th 
anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of 
Education. Despite the initial progress we made following this historic 
decision, our public schools are more segregated by race and class 
today than at any time since the 1960s. We know racially isolated and 
under-resourced schools contribute to the school-to-prison-pipeline and 
harm students' academic and social development.
    Children flourish when they have consistent, nurturing adults in 
their lives. When these supports are not available, children are more 
likely to become delinquent and at risk of being removed from their 
home or family.
    Today, tens of thousands of children are in out-of-home placements, 
both in juvenile detention facilities and congregate care facilities. 
Tragically, these facilities have often been found to increase exposure 
to trauma and negatively affect children's education-all in the name of 
treatment.
    The use of congregate care facilities instead of investing in a 
humane child welfare system can have dire consequences. My home state 
of Oregon has shifted away from and overhauled accountability for the 
congregate care system, largely thanks to the advocacy of my friend and 
former colleague, Oregon State Senator Sara Gelser Blouin. Last year I 
met with Senator Blouin and a survivor of the congregate care system, 
Uvea Spezza-Lopin, who had been sent to a facility out of state and 
regularly sedated, restrained, and locked in a seclusion room. Uvea 
showed great courage by sharing her story and standing up against abuse 
in this system. I also met with advocates in my office just last week, 
who also spoke out about unfair and abusive treatment. We must follow 
their inspiration and advocacy and act to improve these systems.
    In addition to the steep challenges of congregate care facilities, 
the juvenile justice system is still falling short of its intended 
purpose: to focus on the best interests of children by rehabilitating 
and reintegrating rather than punishing them.
    An under-resourced juvenile justice system--coupled with zero 
tolerance policies and increased policing in schools--has led to a 
system that disproportionately polices the lives of Black and Brown 
boys and girls, offering no meaningful intervention and eventually 
feeding into the adult criminal justice system. In other words, the 
juvenile justice system has become a core contributor to the school-to-
prison pipeline.
    The federal government has an important role. In 1974, Congress 
passed the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act, which 
implemented three core components: First, it established core 
protections that states must follow to protect children in the juvenile 
justice system. Second, it authorized formula grants to help states run 
their juvenile justice systems. Finally, it created the Justice 
Department's Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention, or the 
O-J-J-D-P, to oversee juvenile justice programs.
    In 2018, Congress updated this law to strengthen the core 
protections for children under J-J-D-P-A and focus on addressing racial 
disparities in our juvenile justice system. Although this 
reauthorization was the result of bipartisan efforts to align juvenile 
justice systems with evidence-based policies, many states have 
experienced challenges implementing the law.
    For example, the Trump Administration did not provide adequate 
implementation guidance to states, even though many states were non-
compliant with their responsibilities under J-J-D-P-A.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has also posed challenges for states to 
implement the requirements and monitor state juvenile justice 
facilities. As we continue to recover, we hope to work with states and 
the O-J-J-D-P to provide the guidance necessary and help states meet 
children's needs.
    A recent GAO report requested by Chairman Scott also found that 
inadequate coordination between local, state, and federal agencies can 
result in abuse in residential facilities serving youth in foster care 
and youth with disabilities going undetected or unaddressed. In 
addition to this G-A-O report, I joined my colleagues in seeking 
additional oversight action from the Inspector General of the 
Department of Health and Human Services.
    To address these challenges, we must secure the necessary funding 
that the federal government needs to fulfill the promise of J-J-D-P-A 
and meet the needs of America's youth. One piece of legislation to help 
achieve that goal is the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 
Act. This bill increases funding for child abuse prevention and 
treatment to keep more families together and lower the number of young 
people funneled into out-of-home placement. I was pleased to support 
this legislation when it passed the House last year and urge my 
colleagues in the Senate to take it up to follow through on our promise 
to protect our nation's children from abuse.
    The work we do today will affect generations of children who need 
support--support we can provide--to lead fulfilling lives. Our 
discussion--and our commitment to strengthening the juvenile justice 
and child welfare systems--must be treated with the urgency this 
important issue demands.
    Thank you, and I look forward to a meaningful discussion today.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair. Promoting safe 
communities for America's children is a national priority. 
Every child should have a space to grow into becoming a 
productive member of society. That's why Federal policies have 
long supported State and local efforts to set at-risk youth and 
juvenile offenders on the pathway to success.
    Parents, teachers, and community leaders are the first line 
of defense when it comes to preventing criminal behavior from 
at-risk youth. These local leaders are also the ones best 
equipped to address youth that are already involved with 
illegal activities. At the Federal level Congress has taken 
steps to improve the juvenile justice system.
    Since 2018, the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention Act has been working to set at-risk 
youth up for long-term success. This legislation provided State 
and local leaders greater flexibility to meet the needs of 
delinquent youth in their communities and improve public 
safety. This legislation put in place data driven evidence 
programs, as well as important accountability and oversight 
measures.
    These reforms help uphold our responsibility to spend 
taxpayer dollars wisely by ensuring the programs are living up 
to their stated goal to prevent youth from falling into 
criminal activity. Anyone who works in this field knows that 
prevention is key. Youth who have had dealings with the 
juvenile justice system are more likely to continue that 
direction.
    Part of that prevention is working with strong partners at 
the local level to help at-risk kids get on the right path. 
Faith-based providers are crucial partners when it comes to 
preventing crime and helping youth going through the juvenile 
justice system to stop becoming repeat offenders.
    There are already too many youths entangled in the juvenile 
justice system. In 2019, there were more than 722,000 instances 
of young people being detained, or committed in the juvenile 
justice system. We can all agree this number is too high, 
preventing youth from ending up in detention is imperative. We 
know that incarcerating youth greatly decreases their chance 
for a successful future.
    In fact, a report from a 2015 MIT economist found that 
incarcerated juveniles are 32 percent more likely to go to jail 
as an adult. Youth who have been incarcerated also are 13 to 39 
percent less likely to graduate from high school. While 
prevention of juvenile crime is always the goal, tragically 
there may be that rare occasion, often connected to some form 
of substance, mental or physical abuse, where out of home 
placement must be considered.
    We must remember that taking a child who has gotten 
involved in criminal activity out of his or her home should not 
be done lightly, but in no circumstances where out of home 
placement does become necessary, we must ensure these 
facilities are safe, focused on avoiding recidivism, and giving 
the juvenile a chance to succeed.
    We all want to see our Nation's youth thrive. Every child 
deserves the opportunity to achieve success in life and a 
second change. Madam Chair I yield back.
    [The Statement of Ranking Member Fulcher follows:]

 Statement of Hon. Russ Fulcher, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil 
                       Rights and Human Services

    Promoting safe communities for America's children is a national 
priority. Every child should have the space to grow into becoming a 
productive member of society. That is why federal policies have long 
supported state and local efforts to set at-risk youth and juvenile 
offenders on the pathway to success.
    Parents, teachers, and community leaders are the first line of 
defense when it comes to preventing criminal behavior from at-risk 
youth. These local leaders are also the ones best equipped to address 
youth that have already fallen into illegal activity.
    At the federal level, Congress has taken steps to improve the 
Juvenile Justice system. Since 2018, the reauthorization of the 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act has been working to set 
at risk youth up for long-term success. This legislation provided state 
and local leaders greater flexibility to meet the needs of delinquent 
youth in their communities and improve public safety.
    This legislation put in place data driven evidence-based programs, 
as well as important accountability and oversight measures. These 
reforms helped uphold our responsibility to spend taxpayer dollars 
wisely by ensuring the programs are living up to their stated goal--to 
prevent youth from falling into criminal activity.
    Anyone who works in this field knows that prevention is key. Youth 
who have had dealings with the juvenile justice system, are more likely 
to continue that direction. Part of that prevention is working with 
strong partners at the local level to help at-risk kids get on the 
right path. Faith-based providers are crucial partners when it comes to 
preventing crime and helping youth going through the juvenile justice 
system to stop becoming repeat offenders.
    There are already too many youths entangled in the juvenile justice 
system. In 2019, there were more than 722,000 instances of young people 
being detained or committed in the juvenile justice system. We can all 
agree this number is too high.
    Preventing youth from ending up in detention is imperative. We know 
that incarcerating youth greatly decreases their chances for a 
successful future. In fact, a 2015 report from an MIT economist found 
that incarcerated juveniles are 32 percent more likely to go to jail as 
an adult. Youth who have been incarcerated are also 13 to 39 percent 
less likely to graduate from high school.
    While prevention of juvenile crime is always the goal, tragically, 
there may be that rare occasion--often connected to some form of 
substance, mental, or physical abuse--where out of home placement must 
be considered. We must remember that taking a child who has gotten 
involved in criminal activity out of his or her home should not be done 
lightly. In those circumstances where out of home placement does become 
necessary, we must ensure these facilities are safe, focused on 
avoiding recidivism, and giving the juvenile the chance to succeed.
    We all want to see our nation's youth thrive. Every child deserves 
the opportunity to achieve success in life, and a second chance.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Fulcher. 
Without objection, all other members who wish to insert written 
statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the 
committee clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5 
o'clockpm on May 31. I will now introduce the witnesses.
    Ms. Lisette Burton is the Chief Policy and Practice Advisor 
for the International Association of Children's Residential and 
Community Services (ACRC). Previously, Lisette was the Vice 
President of National Advocacy and Public Policy for the 
National Non-profit Boys Town where she advocated for effective 
Federal and State policies related to child welfare, juvenile 
justice, education, and health.
    She received her BS degree in science from Eberly College 
of Science at Penn State University, and her JD at the 
University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
    Mr. Hasan Davis is the former Commissioner and Deputy 
Commission of Juvenile Justice for the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky. He previously served as Director of Youth Violence 
Prevention for the city of Lexington, Kentucky, and is Vice 
Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice. He 
is a graduate of Berea College, and the University of Kentucky 
College of Law.
    Mr. Alan Loux is President and Chief Executive Officer of 
Rawhide Youth Services, a private provider of residential and 
counseling services for youth based in New London, Wisconsin. 
He oversees the strategic direction, vision and management of 
all of Rawhide's programs and services. He holds an 
undergraduate degree in business and economics from Wheaton 
College, and an MBA in marketing from the University of 
Wisconsin, Madison.
    Appearing virtually, Dr. Karen Kolivoski. She is an 
Associate Professor of Community Administration and Policy 
Practice at the Howard University School of Social Work. She 
also serves as the lead data consultant for the crossover youth 
practice model, CYPM, at the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform 
at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown 
University.
    She received her master of social work and Ph.D. in social 
work from the University of Pittsburgh, and was a postdoctoral 
fellow in the School of Social Work at the University of 
Maryland, Baltimore.
    We appreciate the witnesses for participating today, and we 
look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witnesses 
that we have read your written statements, and they will appear 
in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) 
and committee practice, each of you is asked to limit your oral 
presentation to a 5-minute summary of your written statement.
    Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute 
your microphone. During your testimony staff will be keeping 
track of time, and a timer should be visible to you at the 
witness stand. Please be attentive to the time and wrap up when 
your time is over, and re-mute your microphone.
    We will let all the witnesses make their presentations 
before we move to member questions. When answering a question 
please remember to unmute your microphone. The witnesses are 
aware of their responsibility to provide accurate information 
to the subcommittee, and therefore we will proceed with your 
testimony.
    I will first recognize Ms. Burton. You are recognized for 5 
minutes for your testimony.

STATEMENT OF LISETTE BURTON, CHIEF POLICY AND PRACTICE ADVISOR, 
 ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN'S RESIDENTIAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICES, 
                         MILWAUKEE, WI

    Ms. Burton. Good morning, Chair Bonamici, Ranking Member 
Fulcher, Chairman Scott, and members of the Civil Rights and 
Human Services Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to 
testify today about ways to improve the juvenile justice system 
and better support America's young people. My name is Lisette 
Burton, I work for ACRC, and we're a nonprofit association and 
resource for individuals and organizations that provide 
critical behavioral, mental health, and other supportive 
services to children and families.
    ACRC provides training, research and advocacy to advance 
innovation and best practices in the field. It is fitting that 
you are hosting this hearing in May. May is Mental Health 
Awareness Month, and depending on the depth of system 
involvement, as many as 70 percent of young people in the 
juvenile justice system have a mental health diagnosis.
    May is also National Foster Care Month. A Washington study 
revealed that as a many as two-thirds of the youth referred to 
Juvenile Courts had some level of involvement with the child 
welfare system. A study of children in Pennsylvania concluded 
that children in foster care who experience five or more 
placements are even more likely to enter the juvenile justice 
system at a rate of 90 percent.
    These statistics are striking, but even more impactful are 
the stories of young people who have experienced the justice 
system. This can be as heard directly from young people in the 
past, and I hope you will again soon, host a roundtable to hear 
their firsthand accounts, understand their journeys, and 
consider their recommendations for ways we can better support 
the youth of America.
    Respectfully, I suggest that this committee can do three 
things to make a difference for young people. First, support a 
continuum of high-quality services and supports for youth and 
families. Second, increase investments and work across system 
silos considering the various funding streams and sectors that 
support youth and family well-being.
    Third, support implementation and funding of the Juvenile 
Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. Starting with the 
continuum, we know that children are different from adults. The 
brain science and our Supreme Court have confirmed this fact 
time and again, and this is the reason why we have a juvenile 
justice system separate from the adult system, and meant to 
focus on rehabilitation, and acknowledge the enormous potential 
young people have to change and to grow.
    The good news is that youth arrest and detention have 
declined steeply over the past 25 years. We are trending in the 
right direction overall, but racial and ethnic disparities 
persist. Black and Native American youth continue to be more 
likely to face arrest and confinement, and we continue to 
incarcerate too many young people who would be best served in 
their own homes and communities.
    To transform the juvenile justice system, and better 
support young people and families, we need to close harmful 
youth prisons, many of which are already under capacity and not 
necessary for public safety. As I detailed in my written 
testimony, we must invest in a continuum of approaches and 
services that prevent system contact, that provide effective 
intervention when needed, and ensure young people who do touch 
the system, or require out of home care do not cycle back into 
that system.
    As we think about policies to support this continuum of 
prevention, effective high-quality intervention and after care, 
Congress can improve outcomes by increasing investments and 
working across traditional silos. The COVID-19 pandemic has 
exacerbated negative trends in the mental and behavior health 
status of children and adolescents worldwide.
    Multiple committees in Congress, including the Committee on 
Education and Labor, have helped focus hearings related to the 
youth mental health crisis, and this is a challenge that this 
committee is uniquely positioned to address with jurisdiction 
over both education and juvenile justice, the committee can, 
and should, incentivize states to recognize and treat trauma 
and mental illness across all systems that serve children.
    Various Federal funding streams can be used to improve 
youth mental health, prevent delinquency, and support the well-
being of children and families, thinking intentionally across 
traditional system silos will lead to more creative and 
impactful solutions.
    The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is 
critical to system transformation. As Chair Bonamici explained 
the history of the JJDPA, it is the only funding stream that 
specifically supports and creates Federal oversight for youth 
justice, and Federal investments play an essential role in 
State juvenile justice efforts to protect youth, prevent 
delinquency and promote safe communities.
    Current funding levels are still well below what they were 
20 years ago, and far from what is needed to adequately provide 
services and supports for young people and communities. JJDPA 
has been an extremely successful law, yet cuts to these 
programs have weakened the Federal State partnership. As we 
prepare for JJDPA reauthorization, Congress should not only 
increase funding, but should also consider what the latest 
research is telling us, what additional data we need, and 
incorporate opportunities for states to innovate and create new 
strategies that will continue to improve outcomes for children.
    Now more than ever, after 2 years of a global pandemic, as 
young people are faced with unprecedented levels of trauma and 
uncertainty, we need to invest in our youth and their families. 
One of the most important things we can do to reduce the impact 
of justice system involvement, and the associated societal and 
economic costs, is to support effective prevention and 
intervention strategies for children, adolescents and young 
adults.
    Thank you for your time, and I look forward to answering 
any question you may have.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Burton follows.]
   [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    

    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Ms. Burton for your 
testimony. We will now hear from Mr. Davis. You are recognized 
for 5 minutes.

 STATEMENT OF MR. A. HASAN DAVIS, FOUNDER/DIRECTOR HASAN DAVIS 
                SOLUTIONS L.L.C., LEXINGTON, KY

    Mr. Davis. Chairwoman Bonamici, Ranking Member Fulcher, and 
distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and 
Human Services, thank you for the opportunity and privilege of 
testifying before you today. My name is Hasan Davis, and like 
you I am a hope dealer. I believe every child in America 
deserves to be safe, supported, and provided a clear path to 
success in education, career and community life, but every day 
in America thousands of our children are drained from this 
robust school to career pipeline and flushed down the spout of 
school to prison pipeline.
    Everyday thousands of our children take their last step 
away from a schoolhouse, and too often their first step toward 
a jailhouse. Our focus today is juvenile justice, but it is not 
a conversation we can fully embrace without understanding what 
came before.
    At every decisionmaking point disparities create 
unacceptable differences in how youth encounter the juvenile 
justice system. Race, disability and poverty remain the highest 
indicators of deep and long-term involvement in juvenile 
justice. Youth with disabilities, the 13 percent of all 
students, with 78 percent of those restrained. 58 percent of 
those isolated, 25 percent of students referred to law 
enforcement. Youth with disabilities are twice as likely to be 
suspended from school.
    Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three 
times greater than white students. Indigenous youth, 
representing less than 1 percent of our student population make 
up 2 percent of all out of student suspensions, 3 percent of 
all expulsions. Research has shown that a suspension doubles 
the chance of dropout before graduation, with 16 to 32 percent.
    Each additional suspension increases that risk by 10 
percent. Dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be 
arrested, eight times as likely to experience jail or prison 
than a graduate, and that brings us back to juvenile justice. 
For more than 20 years the Juvenile Detention Alternatives 
Initiative of the NE Casey Foundation has shed light on the 
impact juvenile detention has on youth.
    Youth placed in confinement faced similar harms and 
injuries as adults in incarceration. Youth with mental health 
needs are overrepresented, and those with behavior health 
problems only get worse in detention. Detention is designed for 
control, the process is often traumatizing with invasive strip 
searches and body examinations, followed by moments of 
isolation.
    For youth experiencing trauma and mental health challenges, 
this experience is damaging. Most youth in detention are not 
accused of some heinous crime, most are truant, runaways, or 
status offenders. Some sent to detentions specifically to teach 
them a lesson, but the humiliation and shame too often praised 
by scared straight advocates to deter delinquent behavior only 
serves as an accelerant.
    These youth are better served in their home communities 
with robust alternatives to detention services. Examples of 
these are professional and peer counseling, evening reporting 
centers, access to the arts, and art therapy, mentoring, and 
out of school time programming. I would not be here today 
without alternatives to detention.
    As a youth suffering from ADHD and dyslexia, I was arrested 
at 11 years old, sentenced to probation the rest of my 
childhood. My family found ways to engage me in the arts, 
camps, martial arts. I was enrolled in alternative schools that 
supported my different learning. I was able to develop the 
social and emotional foundation to rewrite my own narrative.
    I can only imagine how different my life would have been 
had I been sentenced to detention. We know youth returning from 
placement continue to be identified as delinquent, often 
returning to alternative programs, or special classrooms. Many 
with special needs never returned to school.
    The stigma limits access to work and social activities that 
could serve as resisters to future justice involvement. A 
separate juvenile justice system was created by the U.S. to 
divert youth from the destructive impact of Criminal Court, and 
encourage rehabilitation based on their needs.
    We have eroded this philosophy, becoming another correction 
system managing a child service function, instead of a robust 
youth service system that strategically maintains limited 
corrections component. Now that we have fully authorized the 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, thanks to the 
efforts of Chairman Scott and many of you present today, our 
focus must change.
    We must focus on being youth centered, family focused, 
community-based, and trauma responsive. I challenge us to ask 
the question what if? What if juvenile justice had clear orders 
to ensure all youth are safe, supported, and on a path to 
success? What if we deployed more hope dealers, highly 
motivated, skilled and trained experts with one mission--to 
engage, encourage and empower the youth they serve?
    What if we reserve secure detention for those who are 
dangers to themselves or our communities? What if we demand 
alternatives to detention that ensure youth never leave the 
credit to career pipeline? What if, ladies and gentlemen, we 
simply refuse to allow juvenile justice to remain that place 
where dreams go to die?
    Thank you again for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Davis follows.]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Davis for your 
testimony, and for sharing your compelling personal story. 
Next, we will hear from Mr. Loux. You are recognized for 5 
minutes for your testimony.

 STATEMENT OF MR. ALAN LOUX, PRESIDENT AND CEO, RAWHIDE YOUTH 
                    SERVICES, NEW LONDON, WI

    Mr. Loux. My name is Alan Loux, President and CEO of 
Rawhide Youth Services, which was founded in 1965 by John and 
Jane Gillespie, together with football legend Bart Starr, and 
his wife Sherri. Thank you, Chair Bonamici, Ranking Member 
Fulcher, and the members of the Education and Labor 
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services, for allowing 
me to share Rawhide's story from a provider's perspective.
    Rawhide is a private not for profit, faith based behavioral 
and mental health agency that provides community and 
residential services for moderately and severely at-risk youth. 
It is best known for its qualified residential treatment 
program conducted at its New London, Wisconsin campus, which 
includes 30 buildings, and 600 wooded acres on the banks of the 
Wolf River.
    This unsecured residential program serves up to 50 youth at 
a time, and features a fully accredited high school, and a wide 
range of therapeutic services to meet the needs of 11 to 17 
year old adolescent males, who are referred to it via the 
Wisconsin Juvenile Court system.
    The youth live in homes of 8 to 12, alongside live-in staff 
to provide a homelike environment. Although Rawhide began as a 
residential care facility, it now provides school-based 
counseling in 20 area schools, and operates eight outpatient 
mental health clinics.
    We provide five equine facilities, making it Wisconsin's 
largest provider of equine assisted therapy, which has emerged 
as a promising, evidence-based treatment for youth with 
suicidal ideation and other depressive disorders.
    Recently it entered a partnership with Brown County, 
Wisconsin to provide a range of mental health and related 
services aimed at keeping youth from entering the juvenile 
justice system. Rawhide also provides vocational education and 
work experiences to help at risk youth succeed in getting and 
keeping a job.
    It has forged alliances with New London, Wisconsin's school 
district and Goodwill Industries to provide life skills and 
vocational education for both area and on campus youth to help 
them develop skills and experiences necessary for gainful, 
long-term employment.
    As a faith-based agency, Rawhide seeks to adjust spiritual 
needs by serving everyone seeking care regardless of belief, 
meeting them where they are on their faith continuum. Its 
residential programs and practices are designed to instill key 
core values, unconditional love, faith, hope, and perseverance. 
Its approach is not through proselytizing, but by exposing 
youth frequently for the first time, to religious ideals in 
various settings.
    These include prayer before meals, facilitating youth 
attendance at local churches of their choosing, and providing a 
fulltime counselor associated with the Christian based Young 
Life Program.
    I am pleased to report that Rawhide's holistic approach, 
coupled with active involvement of dedicated caseworkers and 
parents bears fruit. According to the Wisconsin Department of 
Children and Families, in 2020 Rawhide had among the best 
outcome scorers, with 82 percent of discharged youth being 
successfully reunited with their families, and 88 percent 
remaining out of juvenile justice system for at least 6 months 
following discharge.
    Achieving such results requires working collaboratively 
within a complex eco-system of caregivers who are dedicated to 
the best interest of the youth that we serve, working together, 
is working.
    Rawhide obtains funding from government agencies and 
insurance companies, in addition to significant public 
charitable contributions, including a donation of more than 
5,000 vehicles annually, many are sold to wholesale and retail 
customers, while others are utilized in the auto maintenance 
component of Rawhide's vocational education program.
    These public private partnerships are a model of 
collaboration that support Rawhide's initiatives to enhance the 
development of our youth. Rawhide believes that its holistic 
approach is well suited to address behavioral and education 
related issues affecting those in the juvenile justice system. 
Aberrant behaviors and school problems are most often the 
result of trauma that the youth have experienced or mental 
illness.
    Rawhide's approach to these challenges incorporates trauma 
informed principles, based on the understanding that meaningful 
change is dependent upon first addressing the underlying causes 
of misbehavior. Therapy, education, and family engagement are 
essential components of this process.
    For most youth community-based prevention and diversion 
programs will have the best outcomes. However, for those 
limited serious cases where prevention and diversion programs 
may prove ineffective, short term residential treatment remains 
a viable and effective solution.
    In sum, whether it be prevention, or diversion programs, 
school, or community focused therapy, or out of home short term 
residential treatment, an effective system requires a seamless 
continuum of care, and a broad range of caregivers, including 
family and public and private agencies working together for the 
betterment of our youth.
    Thank you for this opportunity to share Rawhide's story 
from a provider perspective. I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Loux follows.]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    

    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your testimony. Now I 
recognize Dr. Kolivoski. You are recognized for 5 minutes for 
your testimony.

   STATEMENT OF KAREN KOLIVOSKI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, HOWARD 
       UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK, WASHINGTON, D.C.

    Ms. Kolivoski. Good morning and thank you. My name is Dr. 
Karen Kolivoski, and I am an Associate Professor in the School 
of Social Work at Howard University. I am also the lead data 
consultant for the Crossover Youth Practice Model at the Center 
for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University.
    My research focuses on youth who intersect with the child 
welfare and juvenile justice systems, so that we can inform 
policy and practice changes to promote better outcomes. 
Children and youth who are suspected of engaging in delinquency 
are usually processed through the juvenile justice system.
    It was founded on the recognition that children are 
developmentally distinct from adults, and because they are 
still developing, are more amenable to intervention. Early 
reformers envisioned a system that would protect young people 
from the harms of the adult system, and focus on rehabilitation 
and treatment so they can go on to lead productive lives.
    For children and youth with histories related to abuse and 
neglect, the purpose of the child welfare system is to provide 
for their safety, permanency and well-being. However, if those 
needs are not met, they may act out through behavior that comes 
to the attention of juvenile justice.
    The term crossover youth refers to a young person who has 
experienced maltreatment and engages in delinquency. Given 
their dual role as both a victim, and as a person exhibiting 
delinquent behavior, crossover youth comprise a distinct group. 
Among youth in the juvenile justice system, almost two-thirds 
have had some contact with child welfare. The most common 
pathway is first coming into child welfare, followed by 
juvenile justice.
    Crossover youth are more likely to experience adverse 
outcomes in life, such as greater mental health, educational 
and employment needs. They are also more susceptible to 
becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Among dual 
system youth there is over representation of black youth, and a 
higher proportion of girls.
    Another area of special need is for youth who identify as 
LGBTQ or gender nonconforming. Research shows us that what 
works is to focus on prevention and early intervention, 
including preventing many youth from having initial contact 
with systems and reducing deep end involvement.
    We need to make sure youth receive quality, supportive 
services such as mental health and substance abuse services, as 
well as education, extracurricular activities, and prosocial 
relationships. Out of home placement refers to removal of the 
youth from home, and placing them in a different environment 
whether a family life, or group care setting. This is a major 
life event.
    Researchers identified several risk factors that lead to 
out-of-home placement in the juvenile justice system, including 
have a chronic maltreatment history, child welfare system 
experiences, and specifically being placed in group care 
settings, and by simply being a crossover youth.
    For example, crossover youth are less likely to be referred 
for home-based probation, versus out of home placement and 
juvenile justice. As part of the mission of these systems to 
help young people, we do not want to make things harder for 
them, but often we do not acknowledge the harmful role they do 
have. Many youth experience abuse in residential settings.
    Secure confinement abuse is related to worse delinquent and 
criminal behavior. Arrest rates for youth who have been in 
confinement can be as high, and confinement is expensive, and 
disproportionately affects youth of color. When a youth is in 
placement, we are asking them to change, while also adjusting 
to an unfamiliar environment, and still dealing with trauma.
    One program that has been shown to help systems better 
understand how to serve youth is the Crossover Youth Practice 
Model, which seeks broad practice and policy changes through 
increasing communication and collaboration across human and 
legal service agencies and community partners. Since its 
founding in 2010, CYPM has been implemented in 120 counties in 
24 states. Its goals include reductions in the number of 
crossover youth, youth and out-of-home placement, and the use 
of congregate care, and reducing the overrepresentation of 
youth of color.
    More broadly are efforts that can be made at the Federal 
level to provide funding to jurisdictions focused on 
prevention, early intervention, and diversion related to 
juvenile justice system contact. A strong social safety net can 
prevent many issues further downstream. Delinquency prevention 
begins in the child welfare system, providing front end 
supportive services such as mental health and substance abuse 
treatment offers key benefits, as can connecting youth to 
meaningful adults, and in many ways treating them like a 
typical teenager.
    Amplifying youth voices is also important to understand 
their perspective. Increasing emphasis on family, and family 
like settings, and community-based supports, can help most 
youth, while not sacrificing public safety. The use of out-of-
home placements needs to come after careful consideration and 
not without exhausting other options.
    Finally, increasing research funds to further study 
pathways of crossover youth to identify clogs in the system, 
and gaps in services, as well as efforts that support cross-
system collaboration and data sharing can help ensure that we 
are best meeting the needs of this vulnerable population. Thank 
you for your consideration.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Kolivoski follows.]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your testimony. Under 
Committee Rule 9(a), we will now question witnesses under the 
5-minute rule. I will be recognizing subcommittee members in 
seniority order. Again, we have a 5-minute rule. Staff will be 
keeping track of time, so please be attentive to the time and 
wrap up when your time is over, and re-mute your microphone.
    As Chair I recognize myself for 5 minutes. Dr. Kolivoski, a 
few years ago my home State of Oregon had foster youth in 16 
different states, in various residential facilities, making 
oversight nearly impossible. After intense media scrutiny, 
uncovering reports of abuse and neglect in some of these 
facilities, Oregon announced it would discontinue sending 
foster youth out of State.
    I requested that the Office of Inspector General at the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigate youth 
congregate care and residential facilities. What kind of harm 
can children be exposed to when placed in these facilities, and 
how does that affect their life trajectory?
    Ms. Kolivoski. Sure. The research supports that we want to 
try to keep youth at home as much as possible, and to reserve 
the use of out of home placements because we know that they can 
be harmful. For youth who are in group homes, they are more 
likely to run away, and that we know is that running away from 
placement impacts their juvenile justice involvement.
    In these systems, again we hope that people are kind and 
caring and supportive, and that they're having great treatment, 
but we also know that abuse can also occur in out of home 
placements, especially congregate care settings. Things like 
hostility, and punishment for trivial infractions from staff. 
If you are in a more group care setting such as family care 
setting, it is more likely that the police will be called to 
kind of deal with intervention versus if you are in a family in 
home environment where the police are going to be less likely.
    Thinking about that as kind of a pathway into the juvenile 
justice--further into the juvenile justice system.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you. That is really helpful. Ms. 
Burton, research has shown that several populations, including 
girls, LGBTQ youth, and youth exposed to violence, are 
disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system 
and residential facilities. Ms. Burton, why is this the case, 
and how can policy reforms address these disparities?
    What kind of guidance could help states address the racial 
and ethnic disparities within these systems?
    Ms. Burton. Thank you for that question. Serving girls is 
something that many jurisdictions unfortunately are struggling 
with, and it is something that was acknowledged in the 
reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquent 
Prevention the last time around. We recognized that we need 
gender specific services focused on girls.
    I am a D.C. resident. I sit on D.C. State advisory group, 
we call it the JJAG, the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. Right 
now, one of the conversations that we are having in partnership 
with Judges and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation 
Services, and community partners, and young people themselves, 
is how do we provide the resources in particular that girls 
need? How do we address racial and ethnic disparities?
    I think addressing racial and ethnic disparities is a local 
issue. The issues that D.C. is having are going to be very 
different from maybe the issues that you see in Oklahoma, or 
Pennsylvania, or New York. That is part of what is so great 
about the JJDPA, it allows for funding for folks who are local 
to come up with local solutions, but it certainly exists.
    In D.C. what we have noted is that the point where 
disparities happen is at arrest. When we talk about what can we 
do to solve that problem, we are really looking at arrest 
records, and trying to gather additional data so that we can 
come up with a solution to actually solve that problem.
    Certainly, better data helps local states, counties, 
respond to the need. In general, when we talk about gender 
specific services, part of the challenge is for example girls 
represent overall a small percentage of the juvenile justice 
system and services, and so I think sometimes we do not have 
those gender specific services for them.
    We have got them in a facility not designed for them, with 
services not designed for them.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. I do not want to cut you off, but I am 
going to try to get in another question in my remaining minute.
    Ms. Burton. Yes, please.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Mr. Davis, I appreciate your testimony 
highlighting the importance of alternatives to detention. I 
have legislation -- the Arts Education for All Act, which 
requires State juvenile justice and delinquency plans to 
describe how the State will coordinate services and activities 
with arts, agencies and arts organizations.
    What benefits of programs like this, what benefits will 
those provide to students?
    Mr. Davis. Thank you for that question, ma'am. Well, I 
think that the arts are actually a core, or an integral part of 
how we move young people, how we reclaim young people in our 
communities. The arts for me personally have proven to be an 
access point to a transformation.
    The data that speaks clearly to the fact that the arts can 
be used, not just therapeutically, but to engage young people 
in their own self exploration in a way that is not always 
allowed in these kinds of settings. Young people who have 
access to the arts are known to graduate school with less 
challenge. Even those who face challenges and justice system 
involvement have found more success transitioning out of 
education into other possibilities. I think the arts should be 
a core part of how we reimagine what juvenile justice looks 
like ma'am.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you very much. I note as I yield 
back that we use arts therapy for veterans with PTSD very 
successfully. I now recognize I understand Representative 
McClain is going to go next from Michigan for 5 minutes for 
your questions.
    Mrs. McClain. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you all 
for being here. I think what we are talking about today is 
extremely important, not only for the juveniles, but for us as 
a society to you know to do better. To you Mr. Laux, Amen to 
getting faith back into people's lives. I think with a little 
bit of kindness and a lot of hope sir, I think we can provide a 
different vision for our youth.
    I think that vision is actually critical. I want to talk a 
little bit, a lot about the success because it seems at least 
at first blush, that we are making some progress. Is that a 
fair assumption? I am not saying we do not have a long way to 
go, but I am curious to get some facts a little bit too. Mr. 
Laux, can you describe the types of crimes committed by the 
juveniles that are referred to your residential care facility? 
Are they wide-ranging? Are they specific?
    Mr. Loux. Sure, we will have a wide range. Right now, 100 
percent of the kids that we serve are coming through the 
juvenile justice system, and through the Court's system because 
of behaviors. It can be anywhere from crimes from stealing 
cars, to abuse, to situations of juvenile delinquency mostly, 
and so those are kind of the things that we see from those that 
need to be taken out because they aren't safe in their own 
homes, for even themselves or for their families.
    Mrs. McClain. Any violent crimes?
    Mr. Loux. We do not take if it is homicide, we do not take 
that. We think that that is probably best reserved for those 
for the juvenile system, for prisons, or juvenile prisons 
because a lot of those issues are complex.
    Mrs. McClain. Sure.
    Mr. Loux. Yes, that is what we take.
    Mrs. McClain. Okay. From my State in 2021, Michigan's 
recidivism rate was reported at 26.7 percent. I am trying to 
figure out what is your recidivism rate? I have got to believe 
you have some good stories right?
    Mr. Loux. I can tell you from a Rawhide perspective.
    Mrs. McClain. Yes.
    Mr. Loux. We had 88 percent of the individuals that went 
through the program did not come back into the system. That 
means 12 percent, and that is on an annual basis, that is only 
for 6 months. Overall, from a system standpoint----
    Mrs. McClain. I am sorry, just in the interest of time, I 
do not mean to be rude, but I know you have tracked it for 6 
months, which is great. Have you done any long-term studies on 
that because I got to believe it is----
    Mr. Loux. The State of Wisconsin actually tracks it for 6 
months and reports it from a transparency standpoint. I am not 
aware of longitudinal studies longer than that from Wisconsin's 
standpoint.
    Mrs. McClain. Okay. What is the criteria that you use to 
say that a juvenile has been rehabilitated? Is it that 
recidivism rate?
    Mr. Loux. It is going to be a couple different things. You 
know one is every student that comes in is coming for 
treatment, so they are going to have a treatment plan, so they 
have got some mental illness diagnoses. They are going to have 
an education plan, and there is going to be goals set around 
that, and it is going to be tracked under progress as long as 
they are there.
    Mrs. McClain. You actually have a plan with specific goals, 
with specific measurements that you track?
    Mr. Loux. Yes. Every youth that comes, there is a plan that 
is combined with the counties, the juvenile justice system and 
Rawhide.
    Mrs. McClain. Very good. I am just curious in your State of 
Wisconsin, the city of Milwaukee is rampant with violent 
carjackings. A lot of them committed by youth. Do you see a lot 
of those people coming in?
    Mr. Loux. Yes, we do.
    Mrs. McClain. To your facilities?
    Mr. Loux. Yes.
    Mrs. McClain. Those are the types of individuals we are 
speaking of.
    Mr. Loux. Those are the ones that we are serving, yes.
    Mrs. McClain. Okay. I want to shift for one moment to an 
economic perspective because we are talking about taxpayer 
fundings, and we are also trying to talk about breaking the 
cycle for these juveniles right? I do not have the numbers, but 
I am curious if you do. If we send a child to a detention 
facility let us say, I have got to believe that has a cost 
associated with it, and maybe even a long-term cost because it 
doesn't break the cycle.
    Is my ladder on the right wall with that versus if we send 
them to a juvenile facility like what we are talking about--
what did you say, I am sorry, prevention and early 
intervention, we not only break the cycle, which has wonderful 
long-term effects, but I have got to believe the funding that 
you are going to require will be a lot less than a juvenile 
detention based on your success rates.
    In my 15 seconds, do we have any data on that?
    Ms. Burton. Ma'am I will respond if I can in 8 seconds. We 
know that juvenile prisons across the country are highly under 
capacity, which means it costs more per child to serve children 
in those highly restrictive security facilities. We can best 
serve children closer to the communities, and closer to their 
own homes.
    Mrs. McClain. Do we have any actual physical data on to 
incarcerate a child is $50,000.00 a year, versus to 
rehabilitate the child through one of your programs costs 13?
    Ms. Burton. We do. I would be happy to followup and send 
you those numbers after.
    Mrs. McClain. I would love to see those. Thank you. I am 
sorry.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you. I now recognize 
Representative Bowman from New York for 5 minutes for your 
questions.
    Mr. Bowman. Yes. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, for 
holding this really important hearing. I have a question for 
all of our witnesses. Thank you so much to the witnesses for 
being here. I heard someone mention, forgive me for forgetting 
who it was. They used the word ``reimagine''. You know I am a 
former middle school principal.
    I did that for 10 and a half years, in Title 1 schools in 
the Bronx, New York, and I was an educator for 20 years, so the 
life of children and what their experiences are, are near and 
dear to my heart, particularly around the issue of trauma, and 
particularly around the issue of complex trauma, and adverse 
childhood experiences.
    As we reimagine the juvenile justice system what might that 
look like? Paint a picture for me. Take me inside what this 
facility might look like for our most vulnerable kids and 
please try to take 30 to 45 seconds each. We will start with 
Ms. Kolivoski, and just go across the line. Thank you so much.
    Ms. Kolivoski. Thank you so much, and I will try and be 
respectful of time too, but this is exciting. We want to make 
sure we are not just being critical of what already exists, but 
thinking of what we want the future to look like, and for me 
based on the research it is about having fully funded and 
supportive services on the front end because what we know about 
involvement in juvenile justice is the need to go upstream 
through the child welfare system. Doing my work on young people 
who are involved in these multiple systems, it is about cross 
system collaboration, and proving data sharing, communication, 
collaboration, fully funding programs, and supporting staff 
with livable wages, so that they can do the work that is so 
very important to our youth.
    Mr. Bowman. Awesome. Thank you for that. I cannot see the 
next witness on my screen, but can someone else just kind of 
jump in?
    Mr. Davis. I am happy to jump in. In following up with what 
was just said, I think that one of the things that I see as a 
rule, bold reimagining is the idea that we have a core child 
serving system, that we do not have all these silos that are 
held up by FERPA and HIPAA, and all of the things that prevent 
us from having communication between agencies about critical 
information young people ought to be relaying back and forth in 
order to really meet their success.
    I also believe that in order for us to really get there we 
have to be engaged in community work. Young people being served 
in community with family and support, so that they continue to 
maintain the process of moving forward toward success. Those 
that do have to be removed, who are a danger to themselves, and 
others ought to be still cared for in a way that is assuming 
their accension into success, not assuming their descension 
into prison, and I think right now our sense is once they cross 
that threshold they are bound for prison, and nobody is really 
taking care of that part of the pipeline. Thank you.
    Ms. Burton. Just following up on reimagining, and I 
appreciate that question. I imagine a system where families and 
children are not coming into contact with any system at all. 
Here in D.C. as part of our juvenile justice advisory group, we 
put out a report that I would be happy to share. We call it the 
PINS report. It is looking at persons in need of supervision, 
and right now that is a criminalized process.
    Families have to engage with a system to get the help that 
they need. We are reimagining what it looks like for families 
and children to be able to access services, help, supports, 
without going through any particular system, but getting what 
they need in a community-based fashion.
    I would also add that I think reimagining means to Hasan's 
point, even young people who may have come into conflict with 
the law still deserve all the opportunity to grow and become 
the person they have the potential to become, and that means 
serving them as close to home in community as possible, with 
all of the resources that they need to thrive.
    Mr. Bowman. Thank you so much for that. Reimagining for me 
it looks a lot like an educational facility where kids have 
opportunity to continue their academic advancement while also 
having exposure to the arts, community, sports, activity, 
healthy diets, talk therapy and a real focus on the mental 
health approach through psychotherapy. Have you all seen these 
facilities that implement these sort of practices, and I am 
down to the wire here, if you can give a quick couple seconds, 
and we will go back around to Ms. Kolivoski.
    Ms. Kolivoski. Yes. There are systems and facilities that 
do trauma informed work, and do it really well that as previous 
presenters mentioned, kind of see this delinquent behavior not 
as something that needs to be punished, but as something that 
we need to have the training for to recognize how to best 
respond to, and so I think just increasing that training would 
be very beneficial.
    Mr. Bowman. Well, thank you all for that. I am out of time. 
I would love to followup with each of you just to continue this 
conversation and learn more about what is out there that works, 
and so that we can figure out how to scale that and support it. 
Thank you, Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Representative Bowman. I 
now recognize Ranking Member Fulcher from Idaho for 5 minutes 
for your questions.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Madam Chair. A question for Mr. 
Loux, please. You touched on this Mr. Loux on your testimony, 
but I have been involved with faith-based organizations before 
with some good degree of success. I wanted to just ask you can 
you explain with your organization how do you implement, or do 
you deal with Christian values in this faith-based 
organization? How do you also transcend that into children of 
all faiths?
    Mr. Loux. Thank you for that question, Mr. Fulcher. From a 
faith-based standpoint you know we believe in a balanced 
approach from mind, body and spirit in order to be fully well. 
The spiritual component is a critical one. As part of 
Wisconsin, all facilities like Rawhide, have to accommodate for 
spiritual beliefs and practices, regardless of what their faith 
is.
    Our approach is we will accept and serve anybody of any 
religion. We also create an environment though where values and 
Christian values of unconditional love, faith, hope, and 
perseverance are the values that we try to live out. We also 
have practices that we show as well as taking individuals to 
either church, we have a Christian-based Young Life program 
that is in over 6,000 schools throughout the U.S. that we have 
incorporated into our program, which 85 percent--voluntary, of 
course--85 percent of those youth voluntarily participate on a 
weekly basis, which is quite phenomenal.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you for that. Just on that same followup 
note here, recidivism is always an issue, and it is always a 
struggle. Talk about that. What do you think the keys are 
within your program that helps minimize that recidivism 
problem?
    Mr. Loux. I think you know first and foremost, our program 
is going to be trauma informed, so we are going to understand 
the issues that they had, that they are coming with, and help 
them solve it. We focus on integrating the family. We cannot do 
it without the family, and that is absolutely critical. Then it 
is relationship based.
    Developing relationships with these youth allow them to 
then transform. Recidivism I believe only comes when internally 
somebody changes, and they will change their inside changes, 
and that will change their behavior. That combination of 
relationships, understanding them, giving them the tools and 
the education to help be successful, not in our program, but 
when they go home to their families and communities. That is 
what has been so successful in decreasing recidivism.
    Mr. Fulcher. Often times we hear within the system terms 
like punitive, and rehabilitative, and retributed, or 
deterrent. While it is all those things, it is supposed to be 
in some capacity, how do you see your work fitting into those 
various categories? How does that impact the outcomes from your 
standpoint?
    Mr. Loux. I am going to say I am going to wear two hats. 
First and foremost, in the preventing and diverting people from 
coming into the system, that is the ideal for everything, 
whether it is in the community, but once they come into the 
system it is purely rehabilitative. Our goal is to help change 
and save the lives of these youth, and get them back on the 
right track.
    Youth is a tough time period, and this is the time period 
to change them and help them.
    Mr. Fulcher. Mr. Loux, thank you for that, and Madam Chair 
I yield back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Fulcher. I 
now recognize Representative Leger Fernandez from New Mexico 
for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so much Chair Bonamici, and 
once again to the witnesses for joining us today, for the work 
they do. We know that this work can be heartbreaking because we 
are dealing with youth, and what the promise could have been. I 
really do believe that we really need to help our children who 
find themselves in the justice system so that instead of having 
their future stripped away, we can help reignite their dreams 
and aspirations, and I thank the witnesses for describing how 
they do that.
    Mr. Hasan, hearing your accounts of what can go wrong in 
the justice system--the juvenile justice system, is very 
telling about how much needs to be done. Can you share with us 
how prevalent abuse is in residential youth facilities? As a 
followup, let me just--so you can deal with it right away is 
does prevalence differ depending on the type of facility?
    For example, a juvenile facility, a facility housing foster 
youth?
    Mr. Davis. Thank you, ma'am. I think that----
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Is your microphone on?
    Mr. Davis. Is my mic on? I think it is, yes. Abuse is one 
of those things that is hard to quantify. There is mental 
abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. My experience in 
the system in having been in this work for over 20 years is 
that in tightly held facilities, especially detention, is where 
I have seen and experienced most of that abuse.
    Part of that is because we have staff that are trained for 
command and control, not to manage young people in a way that 
really does address their needs in their moments of trauma, and 
so when they have responses in detention where responses are 
reactive, every time a young person is responding to something 
that may be traumatic, there is a physical response.
    I have found myself having to call the police on staff in 
facilities for doing what they thought was the right thing, but 
clearly was not the right thing for the young folks that we 
serve. When we get into congregant care, and we get into 
residential, a lot of these things all boil down to having 
staff that are prepared, trained and screened for the work that 
they do.
    Too often across our systems, across the Nation, the folks 
that are doing this work are low paid, and low trained. For 
example, in Kentucky when I was Commissioner the base 
expectation for our front-line workers was a high school 
equivalency.
    I have a GED. I understand how important that was to give 
me a step up out of my delinquency and other challenges, but it 
was not enough to make me--to prepare me to do important work 
for children and families in crisis.
    We do not invest enough in training those folks, in 
screening out initially individuals who might be dangerous, but 
in training folks so that they understand trauma responsive 
care, hope infused ideology, in a way that allows them to see 
the young people they serve as more than criminals who should 
be reminded of their worst choices on their worst day, and I 
think that abuse stems from that. Thank you.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, Mr. Hasan. I just wanted to 
be able to ask a question also of Mrs. Burton, especially 
around the importance of mental health justice involving youth. 
What would a holistic healthy continuum of care for youth in 
the juvenile system as well as the residential care systems 
look like if you could share your description of what that 
would look like?
    Ms. Burton. Thank you. I think a healthy, holistic 
continuum of care would include early access that does not 
require a family or a child to go through an invasive system to 
get the help that they need.
    Here coming up in July the National Three Digit Mental 
Health Crisis Line, 988, will be coming onboard, and hopefully 
that will lead to more communities where a response to mental 
health crisis is not a police response, but it is a response of 
professionals who have the skills to help provide a young 
person and their family with what they need at that time.
    As we build out that crisis continuum where we have mobile 
response, crisis stabilization, in home family services, 
ideally fewer families are needing higher interventions to move 
forward and be healthy. We are talking specifically about out 
of home care, like residential interventions, you know as I 
think many of us have said certainly secure detention is not 
the best place to provide any sort of rehabilitation for young 
people, but community-based programs close to home and 
community, that maintain community ties, and that build strong 
relationships, children heal in relationships, that build 
strong relationships with young people, those are the programs 
that are effective and have proven outcomes.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. I have some other questions 
about the amount of funding that goes in, and whether we should 
be looking at repurposing some of these facilities, especially 
as you both mentioned that sometimes the detention facilities 
themselves are not the best place. I shall submit those in 
writing since my time has expired, and Madam Chairwoman I yield 
back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you. I next recognize Mr. 
Thompson from Pennsylvania for 5 minutes for your questions.
    Mr. Thompson. Madam Chair, thank you very much. Thank you, 
Ranking Member for this hearing. Thank you to all the witnesses 
for bringing your expertise and your experience here in this 
incredibly important topic, and giving us the opportunity to 
examine the effectiveness of various programs aimed at keeping 
local communities safe, and setting at-risk youth on the 
pathway to success.
    It is critical Congress continue to provide vigorous 
oversight of current programs such as the Office of Juvenile 
Justice, and delinquency preventions Youth Mentoring Grant, 
which supports mentoring to vulnerable children in all 50 
states. Youth mentoring has a proven track record to boost a 
child's self-esteem, academic performance, and peer 
connections, while also lowering drug usage, violence, 
depressant symptoms, and delinquent behavior.
    While the results of this program have been encouraging, we 
must always be vigilant in continuing to look for new ways to 
assist these children by providing them a safe, nurturing 
environment in which they can achieve their fullest potential. 
As co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education 
Caucus, I have witnessed first-hand the vast benefits of 
getting children involved, youth involved, in vocational and 
job training at a young age.
    There is an apparent skills gap in this country with an 
estimated roughly 11 and a half million jobs open, available in 
America today, and we do not have enough skilled workers to 
fill these high-paying, high-quality job opportunities. It is 
my firm believe as CTE gives earners of all ages, all 
backgrounds, all life experiences the ability to succeed and to 
restore rungs on the ladder of opportunity.
    Mr. Loux, my first question is for you. In your testimony 
you noted Rawhide youth services provides vocational education 
and experiences to help adapt troubled youth toward a stable 
and sustained career in the workforce. In your experience, what 
have been some of the benefits that you have seen from engaging 
teenagers, young adults in this type of education? What are the 
outcomes for those who participate in hands on learning 
programs compared to those who do not participate?
    Mr. Loux. Thank you for that question, Mr. Thompson. We 
have found that having work experience is going to be critical 
to having a successful adult life, particularly if you are 16 
to 18 years old, getting a job, and keeping a job is critical. 
We found huge issues because of their backgrounds they have a 
hard time getting a job, and we found among our population 50 
percent of the at-risk youth that we serve actually do not 
believe that they can even get a successful job or career.
    They cannot imagine what the job would look like. First and 
foremost is presenting to them life skills and opportunities. 
We work with Goodwill, and some other programs in order to do 
that, so we have found it to be effective one, to get them into 
life skills, getting a resume, helping them get a job, and if 
you can get a job and keep a job for 3 years there is a high 
likelihood you will not get back into the system again.
    Mr. Thompson. All right, thank you. I was proud to work 
with and to lead the reauthorization of the Perkins Act, and we 
have a title within the most recent Perkins, which provides 
funding for career and technical education. It was a specific 
title for those preparing those returning citizens, those who 
are incarcerated, back into the community. Has your program 
been able to tap in to access any of the Perkins support?
    Mr. Loux. You know what, I am not familiar with that. I 
will have to get back to you on that.
    Mr. Thompson. Okay.
    Mr. Loux. Yes, most of the ones that we are going to work 
with are going to be juveniles, but I am not sure if we have 
been able to access that or not, so I will followup. Thank you.
    Mr. Thompson. I look forward to connecting with you too 
because if not, that is something we need to look at. Ms. 
Burton, it is great to have a fellow Penn Stater on the panel. 
The same question to you, in your organization's experience 
in--all the organizations that you have had experience with, 
which has been very vast, helping thousands of young adults, 
what benefit, and outcomes have you seen from those 
participating in career and technical educational programs?
    Ms. Burton. Thank you for that question. We are, we have 
seen a difference. So many programs across the country are 
providing some type of vocational training. To the point that 
was just made, often what providers are seeing is that a job is 
not enough, that there is a need for housing supports, and 
other sorts of social and emotional supports because we are 
talking about young people.
    If they have been to a residential intervention, and they 
have a mental health diagnosis, there are other needs to help 
them be successful. I do have a specific example of a program 
called Bonnie Bray.
    They serve children in New Jersey's system of care, and 
they provide vocational training, and they have done some 
outcomes studies, so when they looked at 3-year outcomes for 
children who participated in the vocational program versus 
children that did not, they noted that there were higher 
positive outcomes with school attendance, with employment, with 
no further contact with the juvenile justice system, and with 
reduced substance use.
    We know that it makes a difference. I think in general what 
we really could use is more funding to support a rigorous 
evaluation, and ongoing research around all these topics, so 
that we really can drill down and get them into the literature, 
what is effective, and what really are the components that make 
a real difference in any of these sorts of programs.
    Mr. Thompson. Very good. Thank you, thank you to all the 
witnesses, and Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. I now 
recognize the chairman of the full Education and Labor 
Committee, Mr. Scott from Virginia.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mrs. Burton, one of the 
goals of the JJDPA is to protect children incarcerated, 
particularly from adults, what is the compliance with the core 
requirements of JJDPA?
    Mrs. Burton. Thank you, Chairman Scott. Compliance with the 
core requirements of JJDPA are key. Separation from adults, 
sight and sound separation, if children are placed in adult 
facilities, decarceration, so removing children, making sure 
that children are not being placed in adult facilities.
    The core compliance also include as has been talked about 
identifying and reducing racial and ethnic disparities, and in 
general making sure that we are preventing delinquency for 
children. All of that compliance is monitored by the Office of 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
    As was mentioned earlier in the hearing, I think guidance 
coming of out OJJDP will help states more effectively be 
responsive to those compliance measures. Lots of good stuff is 
happening, and we just need more support to make more happen.
    Mr. Scott. Well, what is the rate of compliance now? Is it 
good, bad, or indifferent?
    Ms. Burton. I think I would say my personal opinion in D.C. 
our compliance is great, but I would say overall when guidance 
is not clear from the oversight agency it makes it difficult 
for states to know what to do. As guidance is more clear, we 
now have an OJJDP administrator. All of that will make a 
difference in helping these states comply.
    Mr. Scott. What about status defenses being, locking up 
status defenders?
    Ms. Burton. We do know, and I think I included it in my 
written testimony, that particularly in private facilities that 
we still have too many children who are being locked away for 
crimes that would not be a crime if they were not a juvenile, 
so running away, truancy, elimination of the valid court order 
exception, which allows Judges to put a child in secure 
detention for things that are not actual crimes, eliminating 
that exception would go a long way toward reducing confinement 
for children.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. Mr. Davis, you mentioned the 
importance of arts, and things like that. Can you--and you also 
mentioned the school to prison pipeline, I would like to refer 
to it as the children's defense fund does, as the cradle to 
prison pipeline because there are things you can do even before 
school that can adjust that curve and get people in the cradle 
to college and a career.
    Can you talk about the importance of school extracurricular 
activities that give children constructive things to do with 
their time, and meaningful interactions with adults and summer 
activities?
    Mr. Davis. Yes, I can. Thank you, chairman. Out of school 
time, and extracurricular activities for young people are 
pivotal in ensuring they have access to social emotional 
engagement that allows them to navigate especially difficult 
times. I think young people who are experiencing poverty, 
experiencing some of the other indicators in our communities of 
challenge really do benefit more from having access to these 
things that are controlled in school, in controlled 
environments that allow them to practice and to engage in the 
skills, particularly the arts.
    We are talking about workforce, and vocation. One of the 
things that struck me as Commissioner, was having a 
conversation with business folks who say we actually can teach 
any young person to do whatever we do. We can make the widget.
    We cannot teach them to be kind. We cannot teach them to be 
good partners and team members. We cannot teach them to manage 
self, but the arts, and all of those engagements, mentoring, 
all of those kinds of engagements that happen around young 
people in school and out of school time really create the 
foundation that allow them then to transition into meaningful 
work, meaningful education, meaningful careers and community 
opportunities.
    I think that the core, being able to support young people I 
think that is where I get concerned with delinquency 
prevention. It should just be youth enrichment. There should be 
a broader, nondeficit title in what we do for all young people 
to ensure they are prepared to matriculate into our 
communities.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. In the few seconds I have left, can 
you tell me what role seclusion and restraint should have?
    Mr. Davis. None.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, very much Mr. Chairman. I 
now recognize Mr. Fitzgerald from Wisconsin for 5 minutes for 
your questions.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Loux, it is 
good to see you. I was so excited to see that you would be here 
today presenting. I think for my colleagues on the committee it 
is hard to explain really the impact that Rawhide has had on 
the State of Wisconsin, and the legendary efforts that Bart and 
Sherry Starr put forth to help with the organization.
    As a matter of fact, I think the story is true that Bart 
Starr donated the corvette that he won as MVP of Super Bowl 2 
to Rawhide to get the organization up and off the ground. I 
think that is true.
    Mr. Loux. That is absolutely correct.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. All right. Very good, very good. You know 
there is kind of this phrase now that is used in education, 
which is children at-risk. It is probably a very you know 
specific type of description for somebody that Rawhide, 
especially for youth--male youth that were in trouble I guess 
is the way it used to be described.
    One of the things I think that is critical is that the 
group of kids that you serve, how they interact with the K-12 
system, and can you describe kind of what the involvement that 
Rawhide has with the formal educational system?
    Mr. Loux. Yep. I am going to speak from a historical 
perspective as a residential program where kids are pulled out 
of the local schools because they are here at Rawhide for 24/7, 
and we have our own school--a fully accredited Star Academy 
that they can get a high school degree from. In fact, two are 
graduating I believe today in my absence, which is fantastic.
    We also have a group home that actually the kids go to 
school in New London, so a local high school. Then we work with 
them, but they live on campus and help with the support system 
around them, and we are currently providing mental health 
therapy for 20 area schools, and soon to be in the 30's, so 
we're 20 today, and the demand is so high that we're going to 
be in another 10 to 15 schools beginning August/September for a 
start standpoint.
    The education system is a key component, and we have seen 
that with the mental health challenges, particularly the COVID, 
it has just put an exclamation point on, is we need to be there 
in the schools, and the education system is a critical 
component.
    One last thing, when we look at education is we have found 
that there is about 10 to 15 percent of those that are in all 
of our area schools that are not qualified, do not qualify for 
the job training work experience programs because their grades 
are too low, they are trying to get them to graduate, they have 
truancy issues. The very ones that need to get a job and keep a 
job, so developing unique programs to help them is a key focus 
of ours that we are working with key partners in order to 
address them in the public schools.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Right. That is oversimplified, but there 
was another thing that emerged in my many years in the State 
legislature that continue to come up, and that was literacy. If 
you had a kid that could not read, that somehow fell through 
the cracks within the system, and you know second, third, 
fourth, grade. Suddenly they are behind.
    Mr. Loux. Yes.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. I mean it is so predictable where that kid 
is headed in the future. I am wondering is that something that 
you guys have also identified?
    Mr. Loux. It is seen absolutely. We may get a 15-to 16-
year-old that is reading or writing at a fourth-grade level. 
That is not uncommon. When they come to Rawhide for a 
residential program we have major programs to accelerate their 
learning, their basic academic skills, and recover the credit, 
and it is amazing how much progress can be made in four, six, 9 
months' time in order to get kids that had no chance of 
graduation to end up with a high school diploma.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Just real quickly as I am running out of 
time, and for my benefit, and the benefit of the other 
committee members, you guys have unique structure when it comes 
to fund raising as well, so I do not want the committee members 
to think that this was all just done with government subsidies, 
or the private sector stuff, and what you guys do to market has 
been phenomenal as well.
    Mr. Loux. We believe in partnership with the public private 
partnership. Only 50 percent of our funding actually comes from 
government sources and insurance reimbursements. The other 50 
percent comes from individuals in the community that donate 
their money, they donate their time, and it's a significant 
investment.
    Why is this important? Not just for the funding, which is 
great, but this means we have thousands of individuals in our 
communities that care about these kids. They are from the 
communities, they are giving back to the communities, and it is 
really combining, public, private partnership in a unique way, 
and because of our history we have been able to do so.
    You mentioned Bart and Cherry Starr, well Bart Jr. Cherry 
actually helped us 2 weeks ago we just built a new three and a 
half million-dollar home that will house the boys on our 
campus, and that was 100 percent paid for by the community, and 
they helped us raise the money. It was just a fantastic 
partnership between the State of Wisconsin in all different 
sectors.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thanks. A phenomenal story. I am glad you 
were here today. Thanks, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you. I now recognize Dr. Foxx, 
the Ranking Member of the full committee for 5 minutes for your 
questions.
    Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Madam Chairman and Mr. Loux, 
thank you so much for being here, and explaining to people what 
a stellar program that you have, and I want to join my 
colleague from Wisconsin in commending you. I think the last 
point you just made is so critical. Half of your funding is 
coming from private donations because the people in the 
community see what you are doing. You are being held 
accountable to the people in the community.
    You are proving your model to them, and they will support 
it. What our colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to 
do is they want to fund everything through the Federal 
Government, and have Washington bureaucrats control these 
things, and that is so wrong because we know what works, what 
makes public schools work is a good principle, and good 
teachers, and people held accountable at the local level.
    Thank you so much for proving the model in what you're 
doing. I do have a couple of questions. You mentioned that for 
the programs to be effective they need to have professionals in 
their fields doing their work. You talked about that, meaning 
real educators, real counselors, and real therapists.
    Can you explain why that--a little bit more, you mentioned 
it before, why that is important and how your group has worked 
to make that happen?
    Mr. Loux. Yes. As a theme for all of us is that for being 
able to treat and help, and educate these youth, it is going to 
require professionally trained staff. Why? The ones that come 
to our residential program on average they have four mental 
illness diagnoses, and they have been in and out of the Court 
system for years.
    You are going to need people who are actually trained in 
how do you work with that group? How do you help educate them? 
How do you help get them on a course that is to be effective 
and rehabilitative, requires people who are trained to work 
with this type of youth, and so that is where this is not just 
anybody that can do this work. These are people that are 
unbelievably dedicated, mission minded, care about these youth, 
but also professionals in their field.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you. We will have a little conversation 
later about the T word you used. You really want educated 
people in the field, but we can talk about that later. It is 
sort of an inside joke here. Mr. Loux, your organization has 
expanded beyond residential treatment. You have again alluded 
to it a little bit. Can you discuss why you made the change?
    Further, can you discuss how it helps you stay connected to 
former participants in the program?
    Mr. Loux. Yes. As we talked about the continuum of youth, 
so think about it from the time they are 11, 12, 13, to the 
time they are early adults, and launched successfully to be an 
adult, there is a lot of change that is going on. Very little 
of that is in out of home placement. On average our youth stay 
four to 6 months, which means there is very little that can be 
done there.
    What is important is working with the families and the 
youth, and the system within the communities to prevent and 
divert them from coming into the system, but in that rare 
instance where we need them, getting them back into the system, 
getting them healthy so that they can go back and return home.
    What is also critical is that this is not a handoff. This 
is an integration. When a youth comes, we work with their 
families every week. There is contact every week with the 
families, and when they go back it is not just thrown back to 
the communities, it is staying with them for months and months 
to integrate them into their families, their social systems, 
and their schools in order to be effective over the long term.
    Ms. Foxx. Again, you are proving models that have worked in 
other places. For many years, I worked with a program in North 
Carolina near where I live where they worked with the families, 
they worked with severely abused kids, and it was not just the 
students left the residential program, but they had the 
families.
    While the students were there they worked with the 
families. When the students left, they worked with the families 
for long periods of time. You are doing evidence based 
programing, and I think it is so important. We have talked 
about that. We have been talking about it a little bit here, 
but what you are doing are the right things to do.
    God bless you for what you are doing. Thank you. I yield 
back, Madam Chair.
    Mr. Loux. Thank you.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. We have no more 
members to ask questions. I want to remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to committee practice materials for submission to the 
hearing record must be submitted to the committee clerk within 
14 days following the last day of the hearing, so by close of 
business on May 31, 2022, preferably in Microsoft Word format.
    The materials submitted must address the subject matter of 
the hearing, and only a member of the subcommittee, or an 
invited witness may submit materials for inclusion in the 
hearing record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each.
    Documents longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into 
the record via an internet link that you must provide to the 
committee clerk within the required timeframe, but please 
recognize that in the future the link might not work.
    Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the 
record should be submitted to the clerk electronically by 
emailing submissions to edandlabor.hearings@mail.house.gov. 
Again, I want to thank all of the witnesses today for their 
participation. Members of the subcommittee may have some 
additional questions for you. We ask the witnesses to please 
respond to those questions in writing.
    The hearing record will be held open for 14 days in order 
to receive those responses. I remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to committee practice, witness questions for the 
hearing record must be submitted to the majority committee 
staff, or committee clerk within 7 days, and the questions 
submitted must address the subject matter of the hearing.
    I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for a 
closing statement.
    Mr. Fulcher. Madam Chair, thank you very much. Just very 
briefly, I want to just thank those who participated today. 
Some of the things that we deal with are more pleasant than 
others, and the outcomes that happen are largely--at least the 
positive ones, are largely a function of the work that you do, 
and there is nothing more important to this country than the 
next generation and the future with these kids.
    For those who have a heart to do it, please know that you 
are appreciated because not all of us have that gift. You do, 
and I want you to just share appreciation and underscore the 
importance of the work that you do. Madam Chair, thank you for 
the opportunity to close, and I yield back.
    Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you, Ranking Member Fulcher. I 
now recognize myself for the purpose of making a closing 
statement. I want to thank our witnesses again for taking the 
time to be with us today.
    One of our most basic responsibilities we have as Members 
of Congress, and in fact one of the most meaningful acts we can 
take, is to make it possible for every child in America to lead 
a healthy and productive life.
    We have some work to do. Unfortunately, as we heard today 
far too many children are continuing to be put in juvenile 
detention facilities, congregate care facilities, and other out 
of home placements that may leave them at increased risk of 
experiencing trauma. At the same time, inadequate resources, 
and insufficient oversight have allowed Juvenile Courts to fall 
short of their promise to help our Nation's youth.
    We cannot fulfill our responsibility to put children's best 
interests first, if juvenile justice and child welfare systems 
ultimately funnel young people into the criminal justice 
system, or needlessly separate them from their families and 
homes.
    Today's hearing was an important reminder of the concrete 
steps we must take to make sure we do provide every child in 
America with the protections and support they need to succeed. 
I hope we can all agree that this is a goal worth fighting for. 
I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to help 
America's young people thrive, not just with words, but with 
meaningful actions.
    Thank you to the witnesses for helping us today understand 
our work that we have to do, and I look forward to working with 
everyone on this very important issue. Thank you again for your 
witnesses and time, and the hearing is now adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 10:31 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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