Back-to-School Success

School is starting again--already! If you’re like most families, that means a change in schedule from the less structured summer break.

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It... is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be. 

Marianne E. Neifert, Dr. Mom's Parenting Guide

When you see trauma, you will likely never see the scared little boy hiding under his sheets with his teddy bear or hear the tearful plea from a little girl who says her parents fight too much. By the time you see trauma, it often looks like angry and resentful teenagers who use their rage like a shield.

Scheduling Quality Time with Your Kids

We totally get it. Life gets hectic and finding time to even take a breath is sometimes difficult. But with the sun hanging in the sky longer and longer each day, finding that extra time is becoming a little easier.

The realities of physical child abuse are unspeakably common and devastating. By the time you see it, it often looks like an angry teenage boy who scares his teachers and parents or a promiscuous girl struggling with a teen pregnancy only to repeat the cycle for the baby she brings into the world (Abused girls are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy). The reality of child abuse looks like an ever-increasing high school dropout rate and it sounds like the slamming door of a jail cell. The long term results of child abuse extend to every level of society. Abuse leads to homelessness, criminal activity, failing education, drug use, and domestic violence. In a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study of homeless youth, it found that 46% of those surveyed had escaped a home where they suffered physical abuse, and 17% left because of sexual abuse. Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit a violent crime.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

Once upon a time, this was the solution to bullying. 

For kids today, there are few safe places left and “sticks and stones” is like old technology in need of a serious update. The face of bullying has changed in the 20 years since today’s parents were on the playground and we are fighting an old battle in a new place—the internet where words not only hurt, they can kill. 

At last July’s Wine, Women & Shoes fundraising event in Coeur d’Alene, IYR clinician Amanda Smith shared an amazing story with hundreds of generous guests, all gathered to support promising futures for Idaho kids and families. With her permission we're glad to have the opportunity to share this story with you. The story is true, but we've changed the hero's name to protect his privacy.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an opportunity to shine a light on a problem that too often hides unacknowledged in the shadows. And the impact on children is huge, whether they become targets themselves or whether they witness the abuse of a parent or caregiver.

When we opened our new IYR thrift store in Middleton in June 2013, we launched an annual community support program called “Middleton Kids Week.” Every day during the third week in June, the Idaho Youth Ranch Middleton store donates 20% of that day’s sales to a different local youth organization.

If you've seen the Summer 2015 issue of our Maverick newsletter, you'll remember a short article about Nathan McEwen, who is an IYR graduate and whose teenage son is also an IYR graduate. Last year, Nathan gave a talk for an IYR staff meeting and shared his story with us, and we'd like to share that longer version with you--the supporters and donors who make success stories like Nathan's possible.