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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Advocate pins youth violence on adults

Steve Miletich Seattle Times

Youth violence is not the fault of children and teens, but instead represents the failure of adults to instill key values and provide basic services to young people, one of the nation’s leading child advocates said at youth-violence summit in Seattle on Tuesday.

“America needs to reset its moral compass,” said Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Children’s Defense Fund, during the keynote address of the city-sponsored event held at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club and Rainier Valley Teen Center.

Edelman’s remarks helped kick off a day of speeches and group discussions aimed at preventing youth violence, under the banner of the city’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative.

Citing everything from allowing children to watch excessive violence on television to the country’s failure to provide prenatal care to all women, Edelman said parents have shirked their duties while government officials have spent too much time figuring how to incarcerate youth and not enough on health care, education and ending poverty.

“We’ve got to break up this cradle-to-prison pipeline,” said Edelman, whose nonprofit organization, founded in 1973, champions policies and programs to combat child poverty, abuse and neglect and improve health care, quality education and moral and spiritual values for youth.

Dealing with health issues at a young age is more cost-effective in the long run, saving society future financial burdens, Edelman said. “We can’t afford not to do it,” she said.

As part of that, Edelman said, mental-health treatment cannot be overlooked.

“Children should not have to go to jail to get mental-health care,” she said.

Dental care also is a key component, Edelman said, pointing to the death of a 12-year-old Maryland boy who died of an infection stemming from an abscessed tooth because of difficulty finding dental care.

Despite its wealth, the U.S. has higher infant-mortality rates and lags other nations in math and science scores, Edelman said.

“Shame on us,” she declared.

Education is the “civil-rights issue” our of our time, Edelman said, urging the hiring of good teachers and getting rid of bad ones.