1. Running Head: JUVENILE ADVOCACY 1
Advocacy and Intervention Methodology for Juveniles
Marilyn Selfridge
Kaplan University
HN430

2. JUVENILE ADVOCACY 2
The juvenile population in our country is a significant and diverse generation that is in
great need of services from their families and surrounding systems. However, due to mental
health disorders, drug and alcohol usage and other disruptions within these very systems, the
adolescents that rely on the adults fall short, therefore falling short into a juvenile category
(McWhirter, 2013). The microsystem component is a vital structure of society and when this
fails, it’s a sure set up for delinquency in our adolescents, bringing about an entire system
specifically for juveniles (McWhirter, 2013). The juvenile justice system works on juvenile
cases to determine the extent of the adolescent’s criminality and direction of behavior from there.
In this case, Phillip, a 17 year old Hispanic adolescent that moved from the Brooklyn, NY
area just under two years ago to the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts has a younger brother and
sister that both look up to him. Phillip’s microsystem as described through the ecological model
as his direct family connections have been disrupted by violence and neglect. Phillip exhibits
symptoms of disruptive, aggressive and rebellious behavior classic criteria for that of family
dysfunction issues (McWhirter, 2013). There are many elements and layers to Phillip’s
underlying behavior patterns of anger outburst, suspicious drug use, fights and disrespect. Since
his parents have an abusive relationship and tough financial problems, these are all contributing
factors to consider for Phillip’s patterns of behavior (McWhirter, 2013). Phillip has been getting
into fights at school and after school in group situations over what he describes as “typical guy
stuff,” however this is not appropriate or acceptable defensive reaction recourse for him to resort
to. As he is evaluated and counseled, he must be made aware of this as one of his needs; to
manage his anger and reactions to those high pressured thoughts. The fact that Phillip is an
Hispanic adolescent that grew up in the rough area of Brooklyn, NY is a cultural issue to

3. JUVENILE ADVOCACY 3
consider and factor into the fact that this may be a component of his aggressiveness and peer
issues (McWhirter, 2013).
An appropriate intervention application that consists of qualitative methodology for
Phillip would be an intense out-patient reach-out program. This would be a connective program
to connect Phillip with former gang members that have rehabilitated and reformed through
treatment programs and counseling after their own experiences. A program like this would
benefit Phillip since he seems to have lost his direction from his mesosystem and the
disconnection between school and home (Sincero, 2016). This in combination with Phillip’s
macrosystem can contribute greatly to his underlying issues and he could benefit from others that
have experienced similar situations. This experienced mentoring program with a focus on
former gang involvement can contribute to Phillip’s anger reform issues, therefore correlating
with the disrespect, violent outbursts and other issues. This type of service to young kids has
increased but with little known researched results as of yet (ncjrs.gov., 2012). There are
different types of mentoring-type programs to implement. This particular program would be
during a specific class throughout the school program so that kids like Phillip would be sure to
attend both school and the program and hopefully take away something positive from either one
or the other each time. It would be a good idea to focus on an at-risk, anger reduction concept
program, similar to the indicated approach where the focus is this population with repeat
offenders of this type of behavior (McWhirter, 2013).
There are always legal and ethical areas to consider when implementing a program that
involves human subjects. In Phillip’s case, he is under the legal age so he would have to have
his parents’ consent to attend this program. Confidentiality and personal notes and
documentation are of great concern in this area (McWhirter, 2013). The main considerations that

4. JUVENILE ADVOCACY 4
we must all be mindful of are the statements 1-9 on the Ethics Code Collection which consist of
identifying Phillip’s goals, respecting one another throughout this process along with his
personal right to privacy and the no-harm policy (ethics.iit.edu., 2016). This also includes the
element of building on Phillip’s strengths and not just focusing on his negative behavior. There
are other ethical and legal considerations to keep in mind when designing a program and
working with Phillip. The responsibility to the community and society as a whole must be
respected and held as high regard. There are guidelines to respect the local, state and federal
laws while treating Phillip, as well as all people in the community (ethics,iit.edu., 2016).
To conclude Phillip’s assessment for this program, it can be expressed that he would do
well in a program with people that have been involved in gang families but learned how to
escape that life through resilience and self-reliance and trusting in good support systems through
the appropriate resources. Young men like Phillip are at risk and deserve a second chance at a
thriving life and adulthood. Too many of our youth grow up in dysfunctional homes these days
which in turn develop into aggressive and angry adults themselves as a result (McWhirter, 2013).
We must all collaborate to make the well needed changes within the juvenile system to reduce
recidivism and bring about positive outlook for these youth.

5. JUVENILE ADVOCACY 5
References
At Risk Youth, 5th edition, McWhirter (2013). Cengage Learning.
Ethics.iit.edu., (2016). Ethics Code Collection, Retrieved from:
http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/node/3925
Ncjrs.gov., (2012). Researching the Referral Stage of Youth Mentoring in Six Juvenile
Justice Systems, Retrieved from:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Archive/240820NCJRS.pdf
Sincero, (2016). Ecological Systems Theory, Retrieved from:
https://explorable.com/ecological-systems-theory