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21 Juv. Ct. Judges J. 26 (1970-1971)
White House Youth Conference Themes and Goals Outlined

handle is hein.journals/juvfc21 and id is 28 raw text is: 26 JUVENILE COURT JOURNAL White House Youth Conference By STEPHEN HESS Editor's Note: The following are excerpts from a speech by Stephen Hess, National Chairman of the White House Conference on Children and Youth, delivered at the annual meeting of the National Council of State Committees on Children and Youth in Washington, D. C., April 12, 1970. In this speech, Mr. Hess outlines the theme and goals of the White House Conference to be held December 13-18, 1970. ON DECEMBER 5, 1969, when President Nixon appointed me National Chairman of the White House Conference on Children and Youth, he said, Once each decade, since the days of Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States calls together a large and representative body of his fellow citizens to assess the present circumstances and fu- ture prospects of the nation's children and youth. Out of these efforts have come valuable stock-taking heightened awareness, and much useful legislation and action on all levels of government. Never has this White House Conference come at a time of greater national questioning, the Presi- dent said. Long held attitudes on such subjects as family planning, pornography, health services, school curricula, sex education, and responsiveness of gov- ernment are all now openly debated and challenged. The White House Conference can and will define problems, seek new knowledge, evaluate past suc- cess and failures, and outline alternative courses of action. Our mandate briefly stated is to determine where we are in the matter of children and youth; where do we seem to be going; what changes can we an- ticipate for the coming decade; where should we be going; and, what type of society do we want for our children? Having directed our attention to these questions, we must then identify what programs, policies, tech- niques, and strategies show real potential for fulfill- mg our goals and needs in the coming decade. Clearly, this mandate demands a multi-discipline format: the bringing together of the professional so- cial scientists, the health practitioners, school teachers and school administrators, lawyers, parents and chil- dren, in order to break down the organizational bar- riers which prevent open discussion and cooperation. It is imperative that each group which is involved with the education, health, protection, and develop- ment of the child understands the constraints, re- sources, and ideas which influence how it thinks and acts toward children and youth. WE HAVE identified six major goals for the Children's Conference. First, to discover through examination and identification those methods and principles which will best promote the development of American children through the remaining years of the 20th Century. Second, to establish priorities among those issues and problems and to locate and convene those individuals who are best qualified to address such problems and promulgate means for their solution. Then, based on the best thinking available, to predict and anticipate problems and issues which may emerge which threaten the life, health, or well being of the total child and to create plans and policies to deal with these contingencies. Fourth, to provide a national forum for the exchange of information, ideas and policies pertaining to chil- dren and to act as a vehicle for recognizing children as a valuable and precious resource. Fifth, to iden- tify, encourage and solicit participation by all levels of government and the private sector toward the im- plementation of solutions to these issues and prob- lems of American children. And finally, to estab- lish orderly and effective procedures for implemen- tation and administration by which all available or committed resources can be identified, coordinated and harmonized into a national effort. We then divided the 1970 Children's Conference into seven content areas or clusters of forums. They are: 1) Individuality, 2) Learning, 3) Health, 4) Parents and Families, 5) Communities and Environ- ments, 6) Laws, Rights and Responsibilities, and 7) Child Service Institutions. Now to deal with each of the seven program areas. INDIVIDUALITY: Here our concern is with the general question of individuality and self-expres- sion. How can we best maintain a reasonable bal- ance between the child's right to be an individual and the society's needs to absorb and integrate all children into the workings of the social system. A forum entitled I'm Me will hopefully set the tone and process of the Conference. This opening forum will make the declaration that this Confer- ence is child-centered. Through the use of film, American children - male, female, white, Black, poor and affluent - will speak in their own way

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