News
NEW Families & Allies Blog!
For juvenile justice news and resources, check out our new blog at http://favyouth.wordpress.com/. We'll try to put something new there at least weekly, so check it often.
Who We Are
A New Statewide Group
Families & Allies of Virginia's Youth (FAVY) started as a group of concerned advocates and family members of young people in Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center. We could see that the juvenile justice system was not working for our children. We decided to form a group to push for changes at Beaumont and statewide.
Our Concerns
We are especially concerned about Virginia’s youth prisons and the conditions inside them. It costs $102,204 to hold a youth in a juvenile prison for one year. But youth prisons are a failed, outdated approach. About two-thirds of kids released from
these facilities are convicted of a new crime within three years.
Children confined in Virginia’s youth prisons are often far from their families and community, making a successful transition home difficult. Many children in the juvenile justice system have mental health needs that are not adequately met in the youth prisons.
Youth of color are dramatically overrepresented at every level of Virginia’s juvenile justice system. This is especially true of the youth prisons, where 72% of the youth are African American or Latino, even though they are 30% of Virginia’s youth population.
There Is a Better Way!
We speak out and seek fair and effective treatment for all young people in Virginia’s juvenile justice system. Instead of youth prisons, we are pushing for Virginia to use a system of small, local rehabilitation programs based on proven models. This will give our young people the best chance at success and do a better job of maintaining public safety. Other states have done this, and it works!
We support prevention and diversion efforts that keep kids out of the system. This includes adequate community mental health treatment.
Join Us!
We are a new and growing group. We welcome you to work along with us. Please join us in person, by email or both! Together, we can make a difference for our children and other young people in Virginia.
We meet the second Sunday of every month, from 11 am to 12:15 pm in the parish hall of Grace Episcopal Church, 2955 River Road W., Goochland, Virginia. The church is not far from Beaumont JCC and the James River Juvenile Detention Center.
We are forming local groups in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater area. Let us know if you’re interested in these meetings.
For more information or to join our email list, email FAVY Coordinator Liane Rozzell or call her at 703-338-3289. You may send postal mail to us at 701 S. Wayne St., Arlington, VA 22204. To make a donation, please fill out the form on our brochure.