If the writing assignments are a consequence for acting out, the assignments may focus on what they were feeling that led to their behavior, what were the results both negative and positive of their behavior, how did their behavior affect others...what can they try to do differently next time. Some writing assignments are given to help a student work thru an issue- like cutting, family relationships, insecurities. They are designed to help kids look at how they think, how they feel, and what they have do and can do differently in reaction to their feelings and thoughts.
The staff do read most incoming and outgoing mail. We have had parents tell kids they were adopted out of the blue, friends try to smuggle drugs in, very hurtful letters go back and forth. We work with both parents and kids to learn more effective communication styles. In most situatiosn kids can write to extended family members.
For similar reasons, kids are not permitted to have unsupervised calls until later in their program. Kids are able to discuss anything they want. We only redirect them if they become disrespectful. We have over 100 students which limits our ability to allow them to make more than 1-2 calls home per week.
Kids would earn work projects for many things- disrespect, for being consistently late to classes, or for breaking our sex, drug, or violence agreements. The idea is that when you take away from the community, you should do something positive to give back.
