Juvenile services agency teaches kids to find their way on a Western Maryland lake

Donning fitted life jackets, six youths in the custody of Maryland’s juvenile services department sat in green canoes in an Allegany County boat launch parking lot.

A guide — also a juvenile services employee — showed them how to hold a paddle. The paddler in the back steers; they had to work together, he said.

The youths were there as part of an outdoor education program called Reflections, a state-sponsored activity for incarcerated youths meant to show teens other ways to spend their time rather than the illicit behaviors that landed them in the system. For many of the teens placed in juvenile facilities, that was carrying an illegal gun.

Companion article: ‘I had to protect myself’: What Maryland is doing to stop kids from seeking guns

Only youths who have reached certain milestones in the program are allowed to attend the off-grounds trips.

“It gives these young people an incentive, but it’s always an educational experience for them,” the agency’s new Secretary Vincent Schiraldi said. The trips can expose teens to possible career paths and teach them how to work together.

The excursions fit Schiraldi’s plan to infuse youth rehabilitation with positive experiences and providing “a path out of delinquent behavior” — one of many evidence-based approaches the criminal justice researcher wants to imbue into Maryland’s system.

Staff, management and youths urged Gov. Wes Moore’s cabinet pick to bring the outdoor trips back after a pandemic hiatus, he said. And the trips have Moore’s backing, according to his spokesperson.

“It’s a little hard sometimes for bureaucracies to have the courage to start something even if they know it’s good because you could get in trouble, right?” Schiraldi said.

The trips so far have included hiking, zip lining and rock climbing.

Nick Moroney, director of Maryland’s Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, said reigniting the outdoor trips has been long overdue.

“The best thing to do when you have the kids — whatever they’ve been accused of — is to try and give them experiences that will help them to grow,” Moroney said.

Moroney urged naysayers to withhold judgment and expect positive outcomes from the youth development approach.

On this overcast May Saturday, Schiraldi, with his communications director Eric Solomon as co-pilot, steered a canoe alongside kids who were receiving treatment services at Green Ridge Youth Center.

Weather reports earlier in the week had threatened storms, but the mountains held back the clouds — at least for a little while.

The teens carried their boats to Lake Habeeb’s edge and got on with the clumsy business of boarding a canoe. For many, it was their first time. After a few inexperienced strokes — and steadying of wobbly boats — most paddlers synced up and headed south toward the dam.

For Mendez, a 17-year-old from Baltimore City, his first experience doing outdoor activities, like canoeing, hiking and biking, came after a court sent him to juvenile services. The Baltimore Banner agreed not to use the full names of the young people, whose records are sealed by the court.

Mendez got caught with the handgun he had bought at 14 and has spent the last 4 1/2 months at Green Ridge. The 11th grader said he’s anxious to get back home, finish high school and “get on the right path.” He has his eye on the real estate business.

“I’ve chilled a lot being here. I’ve let a lot of stuff go,” he said.

Around the corner, H. and his canoeing partner Michael explored a cove. Juvenile services employees, called resident advisors, canoed behind..

H. said being on the water gives him a chance to collect his thoughts and have fun. The 10th grader from Baltimore City said he just likes nature.

He said he bought a gun for protection because being a 16-year-old in the city is “dangerous.”

“You can just walk in the wrong spot or say the wrong thing — someone cap at you,” he said. “So, it’s just like, you got to watch yourself more, grow up faster than you would think you would have to.”

As clouds rolled in from the south, the guides told the boaters to head back. The children turned the canoes but the wind turned blew against them, making it harder to paddle as they raced against the rain.

Nearing shore, the teens began splashing each other, squeezing every last drop out of the lake trip. They laughed, raced, chased and drenched each other.

The adolescent fun escalated, as adolescent fun is wont to do.

But it came to a halt less than a boat’s length from the dock, when the ruckus from the splashing tipped two boaters into the lake. Several staff canoes, including Schiraldi’s, were very close, and one youth, unsure what to do, panicked. He grabbed the edge of Schiraldi’s canoe. The secretary let out a “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” as his boat heeled.

The voices of the guides rose above the chaotic moment, giving them options.

Grab the floating dock instead, the guide told them. Use it to pull yourself up and out. Or walk your hands around the dock until you can feel the bottom with your feet.

Staff stayed with the youths through the turmoil. There was no danger that required their intervention.

Instead, they showed the teens how they could help themselves.

Marie Jane Machin is a Maryland-based freelance photojournalist.

brenda.wintrode@thebaltimorebanner.com

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