Strategies

Match disadvantaged or at-risk youth with volunteer mentors in school or community settings

Combine academic, mental and physical health, and social service resources in schools for students and families via partnerships with community organizations; also called community learning centers

Introduce a short-term family-based intervention therapy focused on strengths, protective factors, and risk factors for youth with delinquency, violence, or substance abuse problems, and their families

Delay school start times for middle and high schools to better align with adolescent sleep-wake cycles; often until 8:30 a.m. or later

Use an intensive, family- and community-based intervention that addresses individual, family and environmental risk factors that affect antisocial behaviors among serious juvenile offenders

Place youth with mental, emotional, and behavioral health challenges in foster families that provide a structured, nurturing, therapeutic environment; also called Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)

Place severely and chronically delinquent youth in foster families that are trained in structured behavior management and connected to TFCO program staff; formerly called Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care