The Issue of Truancy

Students who miss school are far more likely to engage in serious criminal behavior, gang activity, substance abuse and dropping out of school. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that truancy does not just affect youth, but also the adults they will become. Adults who were chronically truant from school when young are more likely to experience physical and mental health problems, poverty, incarceration and reliance on public systems. Effective and innovative truancy prevention programs involve the entire family, friends, teachers, and the whole community.

The primary goals of any engagement program are to increase motivation, promote healthy lifestyle, and establish a level of trust for each student within their school system. This will allow for a sense of empowerment, achievement, and success.

In this program Lincoln reconnects families to their own communities and provides them with the skills and resources to be self-sufficient. One aspect of which is helping families find ways for their children to stay in school.

Families have told us that they want their children to

• acquire the wisdom and knowledge that will allow them to have a positive school experience.
• find a safe community where they are an important part of that community and feel proud of who they are and what they contribute.
• be talented and successful and have their eyes on the future with a positive attitude.

Lincoln believes that these hopes can come true if children are attending school, are given the possibility of realizing their future, and are motivated to discover their talents. Lincoln's School Engagement staff can help families support their children.

Services Lincoln Provides

After meeting a family for the first time at the court, Lincoln staff spend between 5 to 20 hours each month, for up to six months with each client family. During this time, Lincoln visits the home and helps determine what each family values, and makes a plan to connect them to an array of resources such as neighborhood centers, clinics, churches, neighbors, groups or schools. Specific services that Lincoln offers may include counseling, therapy (individual or group), crisis intervention, general assistance support, mental health consultation, and medication management.

Our goal is for the clients to have a stable household, one that is not stressed by trauma, one where basic needs are met and where a routine and connections to the community are in place.

"When the police came to my house, they took my dad because he was beating my mom. We didn't have any money for food or medicine, and I was sick. We had to go live at a shelter. I was feeling bad for mom and didn't want my friends to know that I was living in a shelter. Because all that happened, I stopped going to school. I always lied about why I couldn't go".

—(Laura, Age 12) Laura's school attendance was only 79 days out of 174.

Jing Wu, Program Manager for SEP: 510.482.6624 (w) / 510.867.1040 (c)