Safe Passage: Making it Through Adolescence in a Risky Society

Author: Joy G. DryfoosPublisher: Oxford University PressPaperback:ISBN 10: 019513785XISBN 13: 978-0195137859Children today face daunting obstacles on the path to adulthood--failing schools, dangerous streets, drug abuse, teen pregnancy. But the good news, according to child advocate Joy Dryfoos, is that there are many programs out there that work--models that we can apply to our own communities and our own children. In Safe Passage, Dryfoos helps us find them. Indeed, this book examines hundreds of successful programs, ideas that have worked in the real world--in a very tough real world at that--such as the Turner Middle School in Philadelphia, a model of a "university assisted" community school. Dryfoos examines the new trend toward full-service schools, programs that make the school the hub of the community, serving as enrichment centers and neighborhood safe havens. She evaluates programs that try to cope with sex, drugs, and violence--revealing which ones work and what aspects of these programs are most effective--and she also dissects programs that have failed, such as the highly touted drug program, DARE. Dryfoos concludes with a passionate call for action, outlining what must be done if our young people are to be assured safe passage to the future. Whether they live in a room down the hall, a house across town, or a tenement a thousand miles away, these are our children. This book shows us what we can do to give them a better chance to succeed in life, to grow up to be healthy and productive adults. Review "Searing, compelling, conclusive... In Safe Passage, Dryfoos gives America the vehicle to drive social policy and practice regarding adolescents. Parents, policy makers, community leaders and today's and tomorrow's teens should thank her for outstanding insights, perceptive analyses, andcogent solutions to what the nation has seen as non-trivial, and now can regard as non-instransigent issues. Finally, we have the analyses and the answers!"--Sharon Lynn Kagan, Ed.D., The Bush Center in Child Deveopment and Social Policy, Yale University"Joy Dryfoos has woven together threads from research, practice, and politics to create a tapestry in which the actions we might (must?) take to improve the lives of our young people are clearly defined--and compelling."--Lloyd J. Kolbe, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Adolescent and SchoolHealth, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion"Foundations and government need to listen to Joy Dryfoos's wise counsel, replicate what she shows to work, and stop the waste of (often taxpayer) money on what she shows not to work."--Lynn A. Curtis, President, Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation"Adolescents face many risks, but they also face exciting opportunities to develop their skills and talents. In Safe Passage, Dryfoos describes research-based and field-tested programs that can help adolescents stay on a path to success. It is, indeed, time to implement challenging, engaging,supportive, and coordinated educational programs to assist all students."--Joyce L. Epstein, Director, Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University"The author's contributions to our understanding f the problems of growing up in America, and of how to overcome these problems, are legend.... This book is must reading for parents, teachers, social workers, street outreach workers, health practitioners, case managers, community organizers,and expecially local, state and federal decision makers."--PSAY Network"To foster human development we must remove numerous obstacles to the release of talent and energy and then let that energy flower within a framework of acceptable values. At no time in the life span is the task beset with more complex and difficult challenges than in adolescence. Joy Dryfooshas a deep and subtle grasp of the challenges and helps us to understand what to do about them."--John W. Gardner, Stanford University"Adolescents develop best in the warmth of close ties to parents and other adults who provide safe places and worthwhile activities. Dryfoos's Safe Passage is a primer for successful youth in today's world. She does an excellent job analyzing the problems and producing realsolutions."--Senator Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senate"Joy Dryfoos has long been a friend, colleague, and mentor for all of us here at Girls Incorporated. Based on our organization's experience, we applaud her vision in Safe Passage of a newly energized movement that urges parents, schools, and youth development agencies to `start early and staylate' in the lives of children moving through adolescence and into adulthood."--Isabel Carter Stewart, Girls Incorporated"Anyone interested in the fate of government programs for American adolescents should read this book."--Publishers Weekly About the Author Joy G. Dryfoos is an independent researcher and writer whose work is supported by the Carnegie Corporation. She lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.