Annie Salsich, director of Vera's Center on Youth Justice, was quoted in an Associate Press story (printed in the Miami Herald) about the success of Florida's Children in Need of Services/Families in Need of Services program. The program includes counseling, parental involvement, and sometimes placement in a shelter for at-risk kids before they are arrested. The program has been credited as saving the state millions by keeping youth out of the court system and prison.

Other features are that Florida's program is statewide, provides a cooling off period at the shelters and offers immediate crisis response. In some states it can take weeks for status offenders to get attention and by then a family crisis can escalate, said Annie Salsich, youth justice director for the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, which has studied the program.

"We very much believe that it's a model and a promising practice for other jurisdictions to refer to," she said.