Troubled teens get help with KidStart
The Now
Bart Cummins
Children who commit minor crimes aren't a lost cause. They just need a little guidance, according to KidStart, a program that pairs children between the ages of 12 and 18 with a mentoring adult.
KidStart, which helps Surrey youth who have run afoul of the law, has been around in Surrey for three years and in other parts of the Lower Mainland since 1987. Close to 700 matches have been made in that time with 50 of them in Surrey.
"We try to give the kids a successful situation and we try to build their self-esteem," said Kevin Taylor, KidStart's coordinator of volunteers.
KidStart is funded through the Pacific Legal Education Assocation.
Mentors are to be positive role models and willing to step in should children need a little help with such things as reading, school work or even learning how to perform basic chores.
That said, Taylor said there's a need for more volunteers in order to bring down a wait-list of 15 children, most of them boys.
Being approved as a volunteer can take four to six weeks. After being accepted, mentors make a one-year commitment of three hours a week. In most cases, volunteers stay on additional years. Weekly activities include bike rides, swimming, walks and field trips.
Taylor noted too often, the kids who get into trouble are merely missing a small amount of attention and a dose of constructive guidance, both of which a mentor can provide.
"We're helping fulfill the needs that they don??t get at home," Taylor said. "It's not that all parents are bad. There are family pressures. The parents may be off working, there's a single-parent situation or there's failed marriages, that kind of thing."
For more information on KidStart, phone 604-543-7654.
