Criminal investigations and other public safety issues in Chester County.
Monday, August 4, 2008
posted by Jenn Miller at
3:50 PM
I am a Staff Writer for the Daily Local News. Currently I am the county police and Coatesville reporter. This is a blog dedicated to public safety in Chester County. This blog gives readers an opportunity to weigh in on local police news. I encourage your feedback. And, as always, I welcome any tips or ideas for public safety stories. You can e-mail me directly at jmiller@dailylocal.com.
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1 Comments:
Latch Key children
A small independent community group of which I was a part that focused on education was formed in the Perkiomen Valley School District in Montgomery County in the mid 1990’s. The Lions Club, Rotary Club, Rhone Poulenc Roher, the Perkiomen Valley School District and Ursinus College and many community members were associated with the group. We were looking for ways that the overall community could assist in education in the Perkiomen Valley School District.
Underage drinking and associated auto accidents were one problem that we tackled. Another related problem was children that we then called “latch key” children. Children that came home after school to a home with no adults present.
In most urban neighborhoods there is someone around all day long and at least one observant person (sometimes called a busy-body). The Perkiomen Valley School District area is mostly suburban tract housing. There is not very much of what would be called urban neighborhoods.
Some of the suburban blocks had no adults around from after school until parents came home from work. There was anecdotal evidence that some homes, unknown to parents, had become places to buy, experiment and party with drugs. I know many of those then teenage children who survived those sometimes difficult years and a few who did not.
What I am getting at is that after school programs are not just for inner-city children. Rural and Suburban “latch key” children may in come cases be somewhat isolated and vulnerable until their parents come home. Suburban and rural children may actually have a greater need for after school programs than children in city neighborhoods.
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