http://theedge.bostonherald.com/teenNews/view.bg?articleid=52986
Tenley Woodman
Someone's always watching - and that's a good thing. The Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps Eliot Center Community Outreach Program in Lowell acts as a big brother to youth offenders in more ways than one.
The after-care program helps make teen offenders' transition from residential treatment back into society a clean and sober one.
``Someone is keeping track of them in the community until they age out,'' said Lee-Ann Martelle, RFK Eliot Center program director.
But the program does more than just hold youth accountable. It acts as a safe house.
``The kids do come back (after they age out) because sometimes we are parents to these kids,'' said Amanda Hinchcliffe, Eliot Center supervisor.
Currently 26 teens, ages 14 to 20, are required by the juvenile justice system in Massachusetts to visit Eliot.They must visit the center between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m., a time period during which most juvenile crimes occur, according to studies.
And when they don't show up, a staff member makes a visit to their home. "
