It's interesting the lack of accountability that will often emerge, not only with government organizations but also with the plethora of volunteer organizations that exist when dealing with ostensibly well-meaning institutions. It becomes somewhat more difficult to monitor and hold individuals to account when dealing with the confidentiality of individuals in the system. Who runs these programs? How are they organized? How many volunteers do they have? how are the volunteers checked out?
I once saw a matter in youth court where a 14 year old boy was going to be released into the care of an adult instead of into custody. Fortunately, before that could happen someone identified the adult as a pedophile with a string of convictions and it was prevented. But there continue to be weaknesses in the system.
If you google Attendance Centres Calgary, you will see that the John Howard Society runs the program along with other organizations such as Mount Royal College. Certainly, these are worthy institutions. At the same time they can be like the government -- targets for con-artists. And unless someone is able to draw AARC's murky underbelly to their attention in a credible manner, I fear they will continue to view AARC as a possible source of a positive influence for Young Offenders in these diversion programs.
I would like to suggest that the John Howard Society is probably a very good organization to approach with our complaints. They do, after all do a lot to support prisoners upon their release into the community, and I would suggest would be the most open to hear complaints about abuses by AARC or any organization out there. I think as a start, this could be a benefit.
By the way, when it comes to identifying volunteers, on the web, JHS in Edmonton has much more accessible information than Calgary JHS.
