00:00:05.040 - 00:01:03.560

Yeah. Oh, Mm. Okay, okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Mhm, Yeah. Two. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Senator Lawton Child's, and I want to welcome you to the Lawton Child's update today. We're going to look at the ways the federal government is punishing criminals as we hit them in one of the areas where it really hurts the pocketbook.

00:01:03.940 - 00:01:20.940

We'll also look at a new alternative to in home nursing care for chronically ill Children. But first, I want to continue our discussion on the problem of high school dropouts. Back in September, I started a campaign designed to create greater public awareness about the problem of high school dropouts.

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I was disappointed to learn that Florida graduates only about 60% of its eligible students. That puts us in 49th place among the states. Only Louisiana has a worse record. Since school began last fall, I've been meeting with students, teachers and school administrators about the problem. I've learned a lot from those meetings.

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While in Tampa, I met with students from Jefferson High School. They had some ideas of their own about how we might be able to curb the dropout rate. They told me a peer counseling program would probably have the biggest impact on potential dropouts. They also suggested that the schools do more to help seek out students who might need help.

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I also met with teachers and students from the Career Development Center in Polk County. This program was set up by the Polk County School system to help high risk students. Those prone to dropping out. The Career Development Center provides opportunities for positive learning experiences for students in grades seven through nine.

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At the center, students earn credits toward promotion in high school. Graduation courses are offered in vocational education, as well as math, language, arts, physical education and consumer skills. The aim is to keep students in school and prepare them for job placement and entry level positions. The program also gives students opportunities for advanced training at the area vocational technical centers.

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After touring the center, I talked to several of the students about some of the problems facing drop out. The main problem is when I look for someone to help me. Before I did drop out, it was hard to find anybody. I've dropped out and I don't think anybody notes as far as the school system, you know, What?

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You didn't Nobody cared about you. It seems like no one cared. It seemed like if I went, I went. If I didn't, I didn't. If I passed, I was so so it was sat in the fourth row, you know, and I found a school that I could make a difference in.

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You know, I got back to school, got my d d. Found a job with this school. I'm doing all right now. The dropout problem is complex and one that affects us all. That's why I held a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the issue, this time in Miami.

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We brought together many experts and dropout prevention and to focus public attention on the problem. We invited Miami Public Television station W L R N to televise the hearing. Dr. Nancy Peck is from the University of Miami's Center for Dropout Prevention. I ask her about something that's been turning up in almost all the meetings I've had with students.

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Dr. Peck, we everywhere I go here an awful lot about the student who says that it was that one special person that caused him to stay or, you know, made that difference. I think all of us relate back to that. You know what that did in our education career and all?

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How do we instill that? Uh, you know, in one, the teachers, But also get that into the community, You know that there has to be somebody that cares. And if there there doesn't seem to be any common denominator in this. But if there is one that I have found now it is that typically they drop out.

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Student. There is no one that cares or they do not have that feeling. And they will tell you that. And most of the research they'll say I dropped out because no one cared. And that's that's the status kind of documentation we have at this point. And we really are trying to look at the community.

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And this is where I think the community can play such a very large part. Some of the things I mentioned we have business partnerships where the the people in the businesses don't just give money. They become absolutely involved with their own person. They become the mentors.

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They call the students, they take them out for lunch, they talk with them. We have all, uh, mentoring we have peer counseling. Even within the schools, we have the teacher advisement programs I mentioned were teachers become more personally involved with the students? We used to have counselors in the school that could counsel.

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We have counselors now that would like to counsel some. But our schools have become depersonalized not because they want to, but because it's a part of the whole bureau bureaucratic system. And so students don't have someone to go to, and they seem to fall out the cracks and walk out the back door.

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And it's exactly what you're saying that we have to find a way in each of our schools to put that piece of caring back in. Dropping out of school not only affects the individual but family members as well. Christopher was a drop out, but because of counseling from some teachers, he was able to get back in school as my mother, you know, found out that I was thrown out of school, you know, she was kind of disappointed in me and my oldest brother, who graduated in 1980 he was kind of disappointed me.

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So I see myself going down like the other guys who I know dropped out that sit around the house and don't do nothing. Just looking crazy. So I say, Chris, this ain't you. You know, you gotta get yourself right, or you're gonna be in that situation.

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So after that year went by, I went to summer school and I went to night school, so I know, uh, got that right going. So, uh, I asked Mr Peavey, you know, he sat down and talked to me for a little while. So when the semester came back in, I was a junior, and I was promoted to be a junior, so I had 1/7 our class.

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And I also was going to night school because I was short and some credits. And then I started, you know, acting teachers for advice and going to after school programs. And my grades started coming back up. And, you know, everybody that was you know, Chris, you know, you're improving a lot.

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Everybody was telling me you was improving. So from there, I just started getting myself right and start studying. And now I'm a senior, ready to graduate with 19 class 88 right? Well, you were very fortunate, Christopher. You had some people that you knew cared about you, your mother and your brother and other people that did care.

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Some of the teachers in school I was gonna ask you, was there somebody in the school that helped you particularly, or counselors? My mouth teaching this love. And I had half of eligible one. And my English teacher, they help me because she missed Mom, Miss Love, she was one of my counselors in the afternoon.

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I go and sit and talk to her, and, you know, we just talked. It sounds like that that you did, though, have an opportunity to look at some of the people that had dropped out. And you decided that wasn't something that you wanted to see in your future to have that.

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So if you sit home and you can't do nothing and you wish that I wish I was back in school, you know, because I want to go back to school and yeah, it was like that without a high school diploma, it can really be tough to get a job.

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Seth found that out when he dropped out of school. He says if you're thinking about dropping out, you might want to think again. I speak to a lot of people. I see a lot of people. I know a lot of people who want to drop out, and I tell them all the same thing.

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You're welcome to do it. And there's no one who can stop you. But you've got to realize that one in today's world you can barely get a job with just a high school diploma. You need a college education. And without even a high school diploma, you're lucky to get anything at all.

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I mean, you literally have to have a high school diploma to work in Burger King now. And, you know, it's not an easy road to take. You're gonna have to work. You're gonna have to make money. People are gonna look down on you. People aren't gonna be happy with what you did.

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Uh, your parents aren't gonna be happy with you. Your grandparents aren't gonna be happy with you. Your whole family is going to look down on you. I mean, I caught more flak than I've ever caught in my entire life. I mean, I could have gone and killed three people and not caught as much flak as I did from dropping out of high school.

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A lot of the people who are dropping out think they're going to get a real nice, cushy job sitting in a chair doing nothing but signing papers. I've I've been on top of roofs in 95 degree heat, nailing nails for 10 hours at a time. I've worked for four days straight sleeping maybe an hour.

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Um, the job I'm involved now with five different jobs. I go from one job, I come home, I change. I got another job. I work Thursday to Sunday. I sleep an average of two hours. I worked all day. I come home, I take a shower, I change and I go out to work again.

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And I work until six in the morning. Come home and change and go back to work. And my family looks at me like you've got to be crazy. And I am I finally realized, but you're gonna be a little loony to have done what I did.

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Your doctor, Joseph Fernandez, is the superintendent of schools for Dade County. He believes that early intervention is the best way to help potential drop out. We recognize that some of the early intervention programs are probably the best way of getting at these students early on. The research indicates that, and you heard Mr Peterson speak to that issue.

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Unfortunately, funding that's not appropriately help us in that area because we have to do that primarily out of funds from our local sources, at the expense of some other programs. But we really think that's one of the most uh, exciting ways to go of getting at the problem.

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We can almost tell you by the development of the profiles that we've done on students, who the potential at risk students are. And we can almost tell you by the time there in the 1st and 2nd grade, so it's very important. We think that we get at those students very, very early.

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Unfortunately, we cannot forget the students that already in our middle schools and senior high schools, and some of the things that we've seen that seemed to work the most are exactly some of the things that the people have previously testified to, uh, teachers as mentors, councils as mentors.

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That seems to be one of the most effective programs. Even when we heard the students speak. The ones that seemed to work are the ones where they had a teacher or counselor or someone in the school that they could go to and speak to and really cared about them.

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And we've had some experience in some of our schools with those kind of programs, and they seem to be very, very useful and seem to get at the core of the dropout problem, particularly with the area of alienation. This year, the federal government will spend $20 billion on education.

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Our nation's businesses will spend another $30 billion on employee training alone. Much of that money will be used to improve the basic skills of employees. Ed Wall is executive vice president for Citi Corp of Florida. He said the business community has to take a more accurate role when it comes to drop out.

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In calling for action, we must mobilize all sectors of the community at large to the business community in particular. We must say Wake up, there's a time bomb in your midst. Attending meetings and offering lip service to solutions will not be the answer. We must all roll up our sleeves and commit the time, energy and resources to win this battle.

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Citicorp Savings wholeheartedly supports your efforts, Senator, to bring this dropout problem to national attention and to initiate federal legislation to address the serious issue. We join you and urging your fellow senators to pay now by supporting funding for dropout prevention programs before we will have to pay a far greater price at a later date by investing in our youth.

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Now we're investing in our collective futures. If we're going to compete with our friends from abroad, we have to make some changes. Japan, one of the nation's main competitors, has a dropout rate of less than 5%. Are record means we've got to do a better job.

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That's why I've introduced a bill to create the School Dropout Retention and Reentry act. This legislation would provide $50 million over a three year period to state and local governments for grants to come up with inventive new ways to counter the dropout problem. It's gonna take a lot of work.

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Whole communities, including businesses, schools and families, will have to take a more active role. It's a battle we can't afford to lose. Our country's future depends on it. We'll be right back. After living among you as a student for this year, I now understand what it means to be in America.

00:13:50.350 - 00:14:12.020

Thank you for opening your home and your heart. Give someone from Europe the chance to know the real America. Invite a student to spend a school year with your family. Share your home. Share your community. Share your America Call Educational Foundation for Foreign Study. Toll free at 804.

00:14:12.020 - 00:14:28.690

4 share. You know the world's changed a lot since I went to this high school. It's a faster track with a lot more competition, but over 50 million people have a hard time competing in today's job market because they've given themselves a handicap. They didn't finish high school.

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Hey, look who's here. Hey, if you're thinking about quitting school, this free booklet will give you some good reasons for staying in. It's called the high cost of dropping out for your copy. Call this toll free number. Don't start your future with a handicap. Alright, welcome back.

00:14:46.420 - 00:15:05.610

The drug trade has been an open sore in this country for years and we've learned from hard experience is it can't be closed with a Band Aid. That's why we're fighting the infection with tough new laws. One of these laws provides a better opportunity for the federal government to work more closely with state and local authorities to seize drug related assets.

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This means when a local police department works on a drug bust with the federal agency. Like the FBI, they're entitled to share some of the assets taken during that bust. The idea is to funnel the proceeds back to the home front to the people fighting the pushers.

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In Florida, automobiles confiscated from pushers are now being used in undercover work and to patrol our highways. The law is working, but it could be working better. When we started seizing boats bringing drugs into the country, they began to pile up along the shores of the Miami River.

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Instead of making money by selling the boats, it was costing us money to store them. After I held a hearing on the problem in Miami, we got the problem straightened out. As chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the law, I ran into another problem. Money collected under the new law hasn't been deposited in interest bearing accounts in a timely way.

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We're working on that so we can get even more funds into the hands of state and local drug fighters. Right now, I'm looking into another facet of the new law, and that's what can be done to expedite the sale of seized property. To find out what's taking so long, I held a hearing in Washington today.

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We'll begin to study the management and processing of seized property. The vast variety of properties being confiscated by the federal agents has ranged from gold mines and horse farms, too small shacks in rural areas. I realized the real estate poses a more complex situation in cash.

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I know the marshes marshal Service personnel are spinning their wheels and, in essence, playing the role of a major real estate agent. In addition, our government has had to become experts in managing enterprises like our horse farms, flower shops, antique stores until these properties could be for but real property like the Miami River vessels lose some value if it's simply left to sit in deteriorate investigations.

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Litigation for few procedures have to take place, and I acknowledge that. But there are reports that the time lag is unrealistic in many instances, and this results in a loss of value as well as a denial of funds for enforcement purposes. We hope that we can correct these problems.

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In the past several years, the Justice Department seized all kinds of property used in the drug trade, including land and buildings. So far, the value of the property adds up to more than $186 million. Gene Dodaro is an associate director of the General Accounting Office, the watchdog agency of Congress.

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I've had him looking into the property seizure program. Unprofitable properties were seized and held for lengthy periods because justice did not adequately consider the defendant's equity. This equity is the only amount of the property's appraised value that is forfeit able to the government. Once leans, mortgages and other costs are paid justices.

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Criteria for deciding whether it should seize the property is too low to prevent seizing unprofitable properties. Justice has also experienced substantial difficulties in trying to sell world properties. Properties we reviewed that were offered for sale were often withdrawn or if sold, usually canceled or significantly delayed before going to settlement.

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These problems occur because justice has not complied with all forfeiture requirements or because buyers could not obtain the necessary title insurance. Idle companies were reluctant to ensure Title because Justice could not demonstrate compliance with all forfeiture requirements or because the companies had reservations regarding the forfeiture process.

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Our work indicates that the department may need to develop or acquire more expertise in real property law and management. This is necessary to adequately deal with the complexities of transferring title for four footed properties. Further complicating the situation is the lack of accurate information and managing the program and an increasing workload on the marshals.

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One of the problems the Justice Department ran into is that some of the confiscated property turns out to be a money loser, and Justice officials have little experience in managing property. Jane Snap is the deputy attorney general with the Justice Department. He conceded there had been some problems managing seized property.

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More important, though, we are in the process now of finalizing guidelines which would permit retention of private counsel to advise the Marshal Service on real property issues. These guidelines have been drafted by the policy committee. They were discussed this past week with the advisory committee U.

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s attorneys, which I understand, gave its blessing to it with very minor changes. And so we expect to finalize those guidelines within the next month. And the marshal service will be able to, with the agreement of the U. S. Attorney to go out and retain private counsel to advise on or feature on real property issues where that expertise is not available within the Department of Justice.

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Uh, finally, we did issue a policy several months ago which said that because of the title insurance problems, uh, administrator, even though property was worth less than $100,000 it should be forfeited judicially rather than administrative, because we could not get title insurance in those cases. Unfortunately, that memorandum is apparently not solve the problem.

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I understood for the first time myself in the last few days that title insurance company is a continue to balk at giving title insurance. In the case of judicial forfeitures. Despite the legislation which we passed as part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Bill to provide for the equivalent of the federal quiet title proceeding, the Justice Department has to do thorough research on the property it seizes without a title search, the government might sell property and then have it reclaimed by the lien holder.

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In a case like that, the government has to pay a refund to the buyer and would end up losing money on the sale. Is there a title search done before a The decision is made to seize property. It seems like to me it's a title. Search is done, and some kind of appraisal is required on a lot of these.

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You just say that's marginal, you know, Or or there's some criteria that we wouldn't look at that one. Uh, why take a chance on? We hope to get our money back in a trailer park and we're operating the thing now, and you're going through all of that process.

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Ah, that's not what what are forfeited programs should be about, it seems like. So how do we How do we stop that? Well, the title search is supposed to be done. The problem. I understand Miss Missouri can elaborate on this point is that they are not all.

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They don't always reveal all the problems that a lot of these problems emerged later, but also, I think, from talking to J O people Title search hasn't always done. Obviously, in those case, one thing to say that it's done and doesn't reveal the problem obvious. You don't find them if you don't do it.

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If the title searches are, we go through the report and see find out where they weren't done at all. You can be certain that we will talk to the U. S. Attorney is involved in the marshals in the district to find out why it wasn't done and to direct them in the future.

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And we will probably we may have to re issue this memorandum again with some additional procedures. I don't know. We'll have to study the report. The lawyers for the Justice Department specialized in criminal law. They aren't real estate experts, and that's been one of the hang ups in the forfeiture law.

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Richard Brenner is a private attorney in Miami. His firm works on forfeited cases, and he has some ideas on ways to streamline the federal program. Let me tell you what I suggested, the steps that should be taken immediately. First of all, the selling or the seizing of property by the forfeiture action alone should be ceased immediately and then action should be commenced to combine in one action the federal forfeiture and local real estate practices.

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And that way, the delays, once the for future, is finished. To then undertake, the state action will be avoided. And in order to do that, you need to employ competent real estate professionals. The government wants to save money. The Justice Department speaker made reference to this Lakeland, Florida, trailer park and said that there's a potential $600,000 loss, and for that reason they're going with sealed bids to avoid commission and minimize costs.

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I think that's a major mistake. I think that's gonna cost the government more than hiring professional companies that do this type of business. What we've got here is a good program that needs fine tuning. The agencies involved are cooperating, and I've got every confidence that we'll work out The bugs.

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When we do a good program will be even better. It's already helped cities in Florida. In Tallahassee, law enforcement personnel bought a robot to use in the drug education program. If that sounds like a strange way to use money, it actually makes perfect sense. They take the robot to area schools where it's used in lectures to young people about the hazards of drugs.

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In other words, some of the money we get from enforcement is being used for prevention. And that's what the drug seizure and forfeiture law is all about. To meet the pushers head on and to use their own weapons against them. When we return, we'll stop by a pediatric care center and see it's helping Children with physical and mental disabilities.

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Yeah, how do you find out when an administration is corrupt? Mhm. How do you find out when a government is hiding the truth? Mm hmm. How do you find out about those who would like you not to find out to become better informed about the role of a free press and how it protects your rights?

00:24:52.060 - 00:25:18.940

Contact the First Amendment center. You, John Fitzgerald Kennedy do solemnly swear I joined Fitzgerald Kennedy do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the presidency of the United States Office of the Presidency of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

00:25:18.950 - 00:25:40.950

So help me God, the Constitution, the words we live by. Uh huh. Welcome back. The demands of raising a handicapped child can be overwhelming for some families, and the cost can be a lot more than their budget can handle. The stress can be even greater when the child involved as an infant.

00:25:41.440 - 00:26:06.550

But a new day care center in Tampa is working to change things for the better. The prescribed pediatric Extended Care Center is a daycare facility for Children in need of medical health. The centers available by prescription only two Children with chronic illnesses and those who require short term care in place of time in a hospital To be admitted to the center, the child's pediatrician must first justify the need for skilled nursing care.

00:26:07.340 - 00:26:28.860

The program is new, and it's doing tremendous work with Children. Donna Lester is the administrative director. She explained the program to me. P. Peck. It stands for prescribed pediatric extended care. We're facility specifically for medically dependent and technologically dependent Children and were staffed by registered nurses that provide the medical care for the Children.

00:26:29.240 - 00:26:47.360

And we also have occupational therapy and physical therapy and speech therapy for the Children. Developmental workups are done on the Children, and an individualized plan is written out for each child and tried to follow through during the day by the nursing staff and then on a weekly basis by the interventionist from a developmental team.

00:26:48.740 - 00:27:12.840

So my understanding is you're trying to take these Children that have been hospitalized for a long time and trying to catch them up to where catch them up and and prevent them from having to stay in the hospital, prevent them from having to be re hospitalized over and over again, prevent the homebound isolation that they get if they just have in home nursing care versus being in a social atmosphere around other Children and other people.

00:27:13.130 - 00:27:31.350

Donna told me the program costs about 1/10 of what it would be for a child to remain in the hospital. Well, we have five levels, and it's The charges are based on those five levels of care. The cost ranges anywhere from approximately 100 to $400 a day.

00:27:32.040 - 00:27:56.270

Um, the most highest cost being the most severe patient, like a ventilator dependent patient patient requires one on one care and the lowest the lower end of being a child. That requires monitoring early discharge. Premature infant from the hospital. I understand your cost. About half of what the hospitalizations were about 1/10 the cost of a hospitalization and a half the cost of in home nursing care.

00:27:56.570 - 00:28:15.270

The goal of the program is to graduate Children to the public system for the handicap. The program is cost effective. More important, though, the center less Children interact with others in an environment that promotes their healthy development. And it gives parents the freedom to go on with their jobs, knowing their child is getting the best care.

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Well, that's all we have time for today. I hope you'll join me again next time for the Lawton Child's update. Okay. Mhm, Mhm. Mhm. Uh huh, Yeah, Okay, yeah. Do you do? Mhm. Mhm. The Lawton Child's update looks at a new alternative to in home nursing care for the chronically ill Children located in Tampa.

00:29:40.330 - 00:29:47.850

The new program is making a difference for Children and their parents. I'm Senator Lawton Child's. I'll hope you'll join me for the Lawton Child's Update