Services offered to juveniles

WILKES-BARRE – Two area counseling services will soon offer support groups for youths and their families who are continuing to struggle with the aftermath of the Luzerne County juvenile justice scandal.

The Advocacy Alliance, an advocacy group for those afflicted with mental illness and mental retardation, has contracted with the Childrens’ Service Center and Community Counseling Services to offer the support groups beginning the first week of June.

The groups will focus on the psychological and emotional issues – including a lack of trust – that continue to afflict many juveniles who believe they were wronged by the judicial system, said Kathy Wallace, director of advocacy and community health services for the Advocacy Alliance.

The Alliance has been seeking to help juveniles who appeared before the county’s former juvenile court judge, Mark Ciavarella. The state Supreme Court last year overturned the convictions of more than 5,000 juveniles who appeared before Ciavarella after finding he violated their rights to due process.

The court found Ciavarella, who is awaiting trial on corruption charges, failed to advise juveniles of their right to an attorney and would often incarcerate them for minor offenses.

Wallace said the Alliance decided to offer support groups because many of the impacted juveniles and their families were reluctant to take part in individual counseling services that have been offered since shortly after the scandal broke.

“A lot of people were calling, but not to the point they wanted to go for individual therapy,” Wallace said. “Some of these kids are so distrustful of anything that, even though they need individual therapy, they won’t go. We hope support groups will be less threatening so they can work through their experiences.”

The support groups are being offered to juveniles as well as their parents or guardians who are dealing with their own issues, primarily guilt and a sense of powerlessness, over what happened to their children, Wallace said.

“They’re still dealing with the trauma of going to court and not expecting your child to be taken from you in handcuffs,” Wallace said. “They felt so powerless. They’ve had a difficult time moving on.”

The support groups, which are free of charge, are being funded by the Mental Health Association of Pennsylvania. Childrens’ Service Center will run the group for juveniles, while Community Counseling Services will run the group for parents and guardians.

Each group will meet once a week for six weeks. The exact dates and time of the meetings will be released only to persons who wish to attend them in order to ensure their privacy and confidentiality, Wallace said.

Anyone interested in attending the support groups should contact the Juvenile Justice Support Line at 888-558-3203. The line is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7179.

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Counseling groups will provide help to the victims and their families.

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