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How we grow up impacts the adults we become.

When young people experience adversity, trauma and toxic stress, abuse or neglect, and/or discrimination, their development and well-being are negatively affected. These challenges make young people more likely to be vulnerable to being placed out of their home by systems that traditionally look at congregate care as the only option. Right now, more than half a million young people currently live in youth jails and prisons, psychiatric hospitals and group homes, or are disconnected from their parents, siblings, schools and communities by being placed in foster care. Research shows that being placed outside of the home in and of itself is traumatic, and unfortunately many youths experience further trauma while in placement.

The good news is that YAP services are designed to reverse the damage done by trauma and toxic stress. YAP services strengthen the foundation of young people from within their homes and communities through repairing and restoring fractured relationships and connecting youth and their families to supportive people, places, activities, and opportunities that meet their individualized needs and help them to achieve positive goals. Our program participants and their families are empowered with skills and social capital needed to make contributions that create vibrant and healthy families, neighborhoods, and communities.

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SOLUTIONS

YAP's Solutions to Societal Issues

  • Out-of-home placements
    are expensive
  • Out-of-home placements
    put kids at additional risk
  • Out-of-home placements
    disproportionately impact youth of color
  • Out-of-home placements
    weaken communities

YAP's Solution:
Supports from Within the Community

The Justice Policy Institute’s Sticker Shock report from 2020 found that the average cost of locking up youth is $588 per day. Forty states report spending at least $100,000 a year per youth on placement. YAP offers safe, community-based programs at half the cost of most out-of-home placements.

YAP offers safe, community-based programs at half the cost of most out-of-home placements.

 

YAP's Solution:
Increase Protective Factors

Research indicates that children and youth should be placed in the least restrictive settings possible. Youth who live in prisons, group homes or residential facilities are at greater risk of developing physical, emotional, and behavioral challenges that can lead to negative outcomes, such as school failure, homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration. YAP’s programs achieve positive outcomes for youth and families, reducing further system involvement while strengthening family relationships, and connections to school, employment, and community.

YAP’s programs also reduce costly, long-term reliance on public welfare and other systems by helping young people learn to function safely and independently. YAP Advocates and their teams empower young people with tools to establish and achieve educational, vocational training, and employment goals. YAP also helps develop a sustainable team of individuals from the community who can provide support after YAP involvement has ended.

YAP's Solution:
Advocate Matching

U.S. systems continue to be impacted by structural racism, which is reflected in the disproportionate number of people of color in the child welfare, youth justice, mental health, and other systems.

Approximately 65% of YAP’s program participants are people of color, which positions us to disrupt the harmful practices that disproportionately separate youth of color from their families and communities. Additionally, YAP employees, hired from the communities we serve, reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of our program participants, provide positive role models, and deliver services with cultural humility and understanding.

YAP's Solution:
Invest in Community

By reducing reliance on out-of-home placement, YAP provides the opportunity for saved dollars to be re-invested in local communities instead of facilities, which are too often far away from the families of confined youth. Furthermore, YAP hires neighborhood-based staff from the communities we serve, provides Supported Work opportunities where program participants receive stipends while experiencing on-the-job training, and engages young people and families in activities that empower them to give back to their communities.