And these practices have long been disproportionately applied to Black and Brown students and students with disabilities.
WE ALL PAY THE PRICE FOR MISTREATING OUR MOST VULNERABLE KIDS
The cost — in both human and financial terms — of getting it wrong with kids with concerning behaviors is staggering. But many people aren’t even aware of the harsh, counterproductive treatment many of these kids receive. Many others are aware but, somehow, don’t see the damage being done. And still others just aren’t sure what to do instead.
Through its public awareness and advocacy efforts — including the hard-hitting, award-winning documentary film, The Kids We Lose — Lives in the Balance is shedding light on the harm caused by punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices. Through our grassroots efforts, we help caregivers advocate for change locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. There are lots of ways for you to get involved in the effort as well.
Our virtual 2023 Children’s Mental Health Advocacy Conference was held on October 27th. Over 3000 registrants learned about the harm done by punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices, state and federal legislation aimed at ending these practices, and alternative evidence-based practices. If you missed it, you can watch it here.
$120,000
Average annual cost, per child, of juvenile detention in the US
$85 billion
Dollars spent annually on incarceration in the US
$15,000 – $120,000
Annual cost, per child, of placement outside home school in the US
$35 billion
Estimated annual cost to society of punitive, exclusionary school disciplinary practices in the US
$9,000
Approximate cost to implement Collaborative & Proactive Solutions in a school or treatment facility
WHAT WE’RE DOING: HOPE, SOLUTIONS, and ACTION
Through our public awareness campaign, we’re heightening awareness of the plight of our most vulnerable kids and the obsolete disciplinary practices that contribute to their alienation and marginalization. Through our trainings, free web-based resources, and scholarships, we are ensuring that the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model is readily available and accessible to those in the greatest need, especially schools with high rates of detention, suspension, expulsion, corporal punishment, restraint, seclusion, and/or disproportionality. We have already helped hundreds of schools reduce or eliminate discipline referrals, detentions, and suspensions. And we have dramatically reduced or eliminated the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities. But staff in many similar settings are still unaware of how to do things differently, and are still relying on archaic, punitive strategies that simply fuel alienation and disenfranchisement. There’s a lot more work to be done.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If you or your child has experienced the harm of punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices — or if what you’ve read here has energized you to make these obsolete practices a thing of the past — please sign up to become a Lives in the Balance Advocator and visit our Take Action page. The current status quo is not the future, but we need all hands on deck to get there.
