Maryland
Workers needed to assist troubled youth
HAGERSTOWN - Choice Program caseworker Samantha Oberholzer will spend the next year working 50 to 60 hours each week to keep troubled youths on the right track.
"We work weekdays, some weeknights and weekends," said Oberholzer, who is accessible 24 hours a day through an emergency phone number.
No formula or perfect schedule exists when it comes to tackling challenges facing some of her clients and their families. She could use some help, she said.
In November, Oberholzer was hired to fill one of three caseworker positions with Hagerstown's Choice Program. The South Potomac Street office still needs to fill two positions.
Caseworkers like Oberholzer work with youths between the ages of 9 and 18 who are dealing with behavioral problems. Caseworkers provide intensive one-on-one supervision at home, at school and in the community, and they interact daily with youths and their families, Choice Program Executive Director Lamar Davis said.
"It's definitely giving me a lot of insight into the workings of the legal system, the school system, and different family structures and dynamics," Oberholzer said.
Funded through the Shriver Center on the campus of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, there are seven Choice Program offices across the state. Mark Shriver founded the Choice Program after drawing inspiration from his parents, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Robert Sargent Shriver, Davis said.
Robert Sargent Shriver co-founded the Peace Corps; Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics.
Choice Program caseworkers are assigned to communities around the country, where they work with troubled youths. The program is part of AmeriCorps, the cooperation for national and community service, Davis said.
"We're a training model for young people coming out of college, looking for an understanding of what the issues are and into institutions that service them," Davis said.
Caseworkers receive a $21,000 annual salary and a $5,000 AmeriCorps Education Award following a one-year assignment. There are no health benefits and applicants must have an automobile. Davis said the program attracts young college graduates who later pursue a variety of community service and advocacy careers.
Oberholzer plans to use her educational stipend to help pay for graduate school. The psychology major said a year of hands-on experience will make selecting an area of study easier.
"I'm not sure if I want to study therapy, the juvenile justice system or work with the school system," she said.
Local caseworkers work exclusively with youths referred to the Choice Program by the Washington County Department of Juvenile Services, she said.
The office is working with 16 youths, but hopes to increase that number to 27 as soon as it has hired two new caseworkers. In the last 10 years, about 500 students have received assistance through Hagerstown's Choice Program, said Vicky Yates, the program's administrative assistant.
