“I was In Prison and You Visited Me” Providing Pastoral Care to Detained Young Latinos

Problem

According to the US Department of Justice, in October 2015 there were forty-eight thousand juveniles detained in the United States. Of these, 10,545, or 22 percent, were Hispanics (US Dept. of Justice, n.d.). In the Juvenile Detention Center in Kennewick, Washington, where I serve as a chaplain, 449 juveniles were detained in 2017. The majority of them, 242, was Hispanic youth (E. Lipp, personal communication, February 25, 2018). Incarceration separates young offenders from their families, disrupts school attendance, and stigmatizes them. Prolonged detention makes young offenders feel isolated and negatively impacts their spiritual and emotional well-being.

Introduction

I use the term Latinos throughout my work unless I cite a source that uses the term Hispanic. In academic writing, the authors I reference use the term Latino/a, since it is a broader term that includes Spanish-speaking individuals not just from Mexico, but also from other Latin American countries.

I use the term detained which signifies that a person is held in custody (Black et al., 1990, p. 449). Juvenile detention centers are the juvenile justice system’s version of “jail,” in which most young people are being held before the court has judged them delinquent. Some youth are in detention because they fail the conditions of their probation or parole, or they are waiting in detention before their final disposition (i.e. a sentence to a community program, or a state juvenile correctional facility) (Holman & Ziedenberg, n.d.).

Cross-Generational Training

The young Latinos I encounter at the detention facility are between the ages of twelve and seventeen-years-old. It is important to realize that juveniles are not adults. Alan Kazdin notes that during adolescence and early teenage years, multiple “biological, psychological, and social systems are in transition” (2000, p. 33). These transitions influence the way adolescents make decisions, and this is relevant in the context of “engaging in illegal behaviors or participating in legal proceedings” (2000, p. 33). He further points out that adolescents are dependent on their parents and families to provide a place to live: failure to do so has bearing on the “emergence of psychiatric disorders, problem behaviors, and delinquency” (2000, p. 47). In addition, Kazdin states that if adolescents experience “harsh treatment by parents, lack of supervision, limited involvement with the child, marital conflict, and parental criminal behavior,” these parents “place their child at risk for problem behaviors and delinquency” (2000, p. 47).

The following is the story of Juan whom I met in detention. ¹ The family consisted of a mother, a father, Juan, and his two younger siblings. When the father was deported to Mexico, the family unit fell apart. The mother was left to provide for her three children. She worked as a field worker in a local orchard. She had to be at work at 5 am. This meant that Juan had to get his youngest sibling ready for the daycare center and help his older sibling get ready for school. When his youngest sibling started to act out at the daycare center, the family was told that the youngest sibling could no longer attend. Now Juan had to watch his youngest sibling. He started skipping school and he eventually dropped out. At this point, he started to associate with the “wrong crowd” and became involved in illegal activities. In his mind, he thought he was helping out the family financially by stealing and selling stolen property. Eventually the law caught up with him, and he was sentenced to serve time in detention. Now his mother had to stay home with her youngest child and could no longer work. The family ended up being evicted from their apartment.

The young man from my story could only see one way to help his family and that was by committing illegal acts. Did he have a “juvenile” brain? Nell Bernstein writes that, “advances in imaging technology allowed researchers to demonstrate that the brain is not fully developed until early adulthood” (2014, p. 207). And in even more recent studies it was established that the “frontal lobe, which governs rational decision making, does not fully mature until the mid-twenties” (Bernstein, 2014, p. 207).

This young Latino came from a dysfunctional family which is described by Charles Shelton, as being one that “impairs the emotional, physical, intellectual, or spiritual functioning of family members and that in turn leads to increasing life dissatisfaction and at-risk behaviors” (1995, p. 98). This young man’s mother was not able to redirect or help her son to abstain from criminal behavior. She knew that the money he used to buy clothes and food for the family was earned illegally. Shelton further notes that “dysfunctional families are not able to resolve family conflict in a mature manner” (1995, p. 100). This was certainly true for this family.

Erik Erikson, who was a prominent developmental theorist, centered his theories on psychosocial development rather than psychosexual development. There are eight stages that make up his theory, but I will focus on stage five: Identity vs. Confusion because this stage occurs during adolescence when childhood ends and youth begins (Erikson, 1994, p. 94). The majority of detained young Latinos fall into this age group.

During adolescence, teenagers are preoccupied with what others think of them: teenagers want to “fit in.” They look to their peers for answers and approval rather than to their parents or other adults in their lives. The danger in this is that some juveniles follow the bad advice of peers that can lead them down the path of destruction. I see this phenomenon played out many times. For example, a juvenile is invited to a party where drugs and alcohol are offered, and in order to be “cool” or “fit in,” the juvenile accepts the offer. Often, this leads to addiction.

Erikson notes that in their search for “a new sense of continuity and sameness,” some adolescents have to confront and fight “many of the crises of earlier years, and they are not ready yet to accept a final identity” (1994, p. 94). For example: during an encounter with a young Latino, he shared with me that he was torn between being a gangster or being a regular kid, who goes to school and graduates. The gang offered him money, respect, drugs, alcohol, and girls. All these things were enticing for him. He chose the gang but in the end, he regretted his choice.

Cross-Cultural Aspects

It is important to be aware of your own social location when you provide pastoral care to juveniles of color, for example, if you are a white pastoral care provider, be aware of intentional or unintentional biases you may have. Shaun Gabbidon and Helen Taylor-Greene ask the important question, “Why is the proportion of juvenile minorities (especially African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics) at several stages in juvenile justice greater than their proportion of the general population?” (2013, p. 301). The authors note that juvenile justice has always been a “racialized system” (2013, p. 301). In addition to race and the large-scale structural transformations of cities, there are two societal factors important for understanding juvenile-justice policies and practices. One is the racial segregation in urban areas, the other is the deindustrialization of cities that has occurred during the last few decades and has impacted especially the poor. And poverty can foster criminal involvement (Gabbidon & Taylor-Greene, 2013, p. 302). Gabbidon and Taylor-Greene further note that within a racialized system, police hold stereotypical views of minority youth that often result in differential treatment (2013, p. 302). In the area where I live, police assume that young Latinos are gang members and drug dealers. I know from talking to juveniles in detention that they have been harassed by police when they were just going from their homes to a store to buy groceries. The police stop them on the street and want to know where they are coming from and where they are going.

The young Latinos I encounter often come from poor families with a low-level of education. Many of these young men have dropped out of school and drug and alcohol abuse are additional risk factors. The following is an account of a young Latino I met in detention. His mother was a single parent. His mother worked, but they were poor. He was very smart. He was bullied in school because of his clothes. His mother bought him inexpensive clothes because she could not afford buying expensive clothes. He was suspended from school, after he got into a fist fight with one of the bullies at school. This happened many more times, and eventually he was expelled from school. At this point, he decided to make his fortune by selling drugs. He earned a substantial amount of money and was able to afford expensive designer clothes. He was happy for a short period of time, but he spent little time at home with his mother. He became estranged from her. The friends he met on the streets became his family. Eventually, the police caught up with him and he was arrested. He earned his General Education Diploma (GED) while he was in detention. In the end, he was facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Psychosocial Impact of Abuse and Violence on Young Offenders

Many of the young Latinos I encounter in detention have experienced traumatic events in their lives. Based on their research, Pooja Amatya and Drew Barzman define trauma as follows: “Trauma is a profound experience of the loss of security and welfare evoking feelings of fear, helplessness, horror, and possibly disorganized agitation in children” (2012). I have heard stories from Latino juveniles who have experienced violence at the hands of their fathers or stepfathers or they have witnessed when their mothers were abused by either their husbands or boyfriends. Because they were children, they were not strong enough to defend themselves or to help their mother. This left them with a feeling of helplessness, which often turned into anger when they got older. Children may suffer from the effects of trauma in “many significant ways including academic difficulties, lower self-esteem, and attachment issues” (Amatya & Barzman, 2012, p. 2). Thus, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) should be understood as one “significant effect of trauma” that may be linked to many “subtle or explicit effects on the child’s functioning and development” (Amatya & Barzman, 2012, p. 2). How do attachment relations affect traumatic responses? Literature in trauma and in attachment relations discusses the roles of core mental concepts and emotional engagement as “relevant psychological mechanisms.” ^“If attachment relations shape core mental concepts, and if PTSD is caused by negative mental concepts of the self and the world formed through trauma, then attachment figures can influence PTSD” (Amatya & Barzman, 2012, p. 2). In other words, the child who has experienced trauma and consequently suffers from PTSD, can be helped by attachment figures such as a mother or a father to mitigate the negative effects of trauma and help the child to be competent and experience the world as safe.

There is a strong correlation between pediatric PTSD and juvenile delinquency. I witness that in many of the Latino youth in detention. Amatya and Barzman remark that the violence and chaos experienced by the young victim through trauma may “manifest as outward acts of aggression, delinquency, and conduct disorder … ” (2012). Parental psychopathology, drug use, and criminal activity, neighborhoods with criminal subculture, frequent moves, and schools with chaotic environments, are all environmental influences that are not conducive to helping a youngster who suffers from PTSD following trauma (Amatya & Barzman, 2012, p. 4). Understanding, preventing, and treating childhood PTSD are important not only to benefit the victim, but also to avoid costs on a societal level throughout the course of the child’s development into adulthood. The ineffectiveness of the available juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment plans may be due to the “lack of relational and trauma focus of these plans” (Amatya & Barzman, 2012, p. 4).

If we understand the motivation (s) behind why young Latinos join a gang, pastoral care providers, the community at large, and churches may be better able to understand and reach out to gang members. And perhaps we can find a solution that can help gang members turn their lives around. In my interactions with gang members, I found the things they yearn for are respect, honor, loyalty, protection, money, and belonging. Evelyn Parker notes that the value of respect and its umbrella term “honor” are thematic in life stories of youth involved in violent gangs (2001). And Irving Spergel notes that, “honor, loyalty, and fellowship are reasons youths give for joining gangs, particularly in lower-class Hispanic, black, or white communities” (1995, p. 97).

Jack Katz argues that central elements in various forms of deviance, including becoming involved in a gang, are the “moral emotions of humiliation, righteousness, arrogance, ridicule, cynicism, defilement, and vengeance” (1988, p. 9). The compelling attraction, according to Katz, is “the need to overcome a personal challenge to moral existence.” Katz’s theory implies that honor or respect is a motivator for youth to join a gang. This rings true for many of the young Latino gang members I encounter. They struggle with anger and hopelessness, with the shame of abandonment or rejection, or with the shame of poverty. In my view, it is important to affirm the humanity of gang youth, regardless of what they have done. This does not mean condoning their criminal acts, but to recognize that they are made in the image of God.

Gang Mentality

The following two stories were written by young Latino gang members. In these stories they explain why they joined a gang. They wrote their stories in my creative writing class at the detention center.

My life: I started banging when I was very young. My older brother was a gang member. He was shot and killed by rival gang members. I have two more brothers locked up in prison. I joined a gang cuz I needed to take out my anger. When I was growing up, my homies sent me on missions. My mission was jacking cars and taking them to a garage. They paid me well for doing that. I was doing it for a couple of months, and then I realized that I was risking a lot. After I jacked from the leader, he threatened to get even with me. But he got locked up and I started laying low. (Written by M.)

I’m a young Chicano gang member, who wants to change his life around. Many people judge us because of what we do, but they don’t know us. They don’t know why we do the things we do. People don’t look below the surface. They don’t understand where we are coming from. Since I was very young, I have seen destruction; people dying from gunshot wounds and from getting stabbed. Every day I would see the drive-byes, the walk-ups, and I even saw a relative get raped. I was very young and I felt powerless. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t.

I was also getting jumped for several years for not being in a gang. Eventually, I joined the gang on my block. There are many reasons I joined the gang: for family, for money and for protection. On my block, it was a war zone every day because every single block was the territory of a different gang. If someone who was from a different gang crossed over to our block, there would be a war. Homeboys would die or get injured. I got traumatized at a really young age. One day, my cuzin and I were walking to a store. While we were walking, we heard shouts that came out of nowhere and then we heard gun shots. I was shot in my leg, but my cuzin was shot and killed. I survived because I hid behind a car. A lot of things happened to me in my life. (Written by A. L.)

Theological Perspectives

My theological lens allows me to see all human beings as sacred and redeemable. These are my deepest theological underpinnings, which are consistent with the insights I have gained by providing pastoral care to young offenders. They are of sacred worth despite the wrongs they have committed. This is echoed in Larry Graham’s work, Discovering Images of God. The theological question I will address regarding the doctrine of the Imago Dei is this: What might it mean for all persons to become fully human in the light of God? Graham writes that, “Knowledge of God discloses what it means to be authentically human” (1997, p. 147). And knowledge of human beings is “foundational for saying something significant about the nature and activity of God” (Graham, 1997, p. 170). The concept of the Imago Dei is the symbol used in the Christian tradition to teach about what it means to be “fully human” (Graham, 1997, p. 171). It is a statement about “humanity’s high status before God” (Graham, 1997, p. 172). To embody the Imago Dei is to reflect God’s intention for humanity, which is to be “whole, or in the process of becoming whole, rather than to be fundamentally flawed” (Graham, 1997, p. 147).

In Christ, there is no condemnation, and to be in the image of God is to “overcome alienation,” and to recognize a “partnership with God and one another … .” (Graham, 1997, p. 170). The transformative love revealed in the gospel reflects “God’s way of being and intention for humanity” (Graham, 1997, p. 171). The Christian tradition fails when it ignores the criteria of “love of God, neighbor, self, and non-human nature” (Graham, 1997, p. 171). To be in the Imago Dei, is to accept our “humanity and the humanity of every other human being as sacred, or of unconditional worth” (Graham, 1997, p. 147).

Regarding the doctrine of redemption, it is my conviction that redemption is one of the central themes in Scripture, particularly in the book of Exodus. A good example is Moses, who was redeemed by God even though he was a murderer. He killed an Egyptian task master who was beating a Hebrew. Subsequently, Moses fled to the land of Midian (Exodus 2:11–15). And yet, God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of bondage from the Egyptians. At first Moses is reluctant to take on this task and he comes up with excuses. He states that he is “slow of speech and slow of tongue” (4:10). But eventually Moses, the reluctant leader, leads the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage.

In her work Avivah Zornberg (2016), a Jewish scholar, portrays Moses as an outsider, one with a complicated and violent past, and one who stutters. And yet, he was chosen by God to fulfill an enormous task. Although the upbringing of Moses and the young offenders I serve cannot be compared, they both committed acts they knew were wrong for the benefit of their “tribe.” Many have committed serious crimes. The young offenders I meet in detention can relate to Moses. They are outsiders in the community where they live. People look down on them because they are gang members and the gang is their “tribe.” Many come from poor and dysfunctional families, and many have dropped out of school. This marginalizes them socially and economically.

Providing Pastoral Care to Young Latino Offenders

The crucial part of providing pastoral care is to listen and to hear. In Cari Jackson’s work, The Gift to Listen, The Courage to Hear, is a powerful statement:

Holy listening – to “listen” another’s soul into life,

into a condition of disclosure and discovery,

may be almost the greatest service that

any human being ever performs for another (Jackson, 2003, p. 1).

In my interactions with young Latino offenders, I have learned that they need to feel safe in order to talk about themselves. I provide a safe space by listening to them with compassion, non-judgment, and empathy.

Some of the techniques I use in listening are to reflect back to the youth what I have heard him say, or to paraphrase what I have heard, or to ask for clarifications when I am not sure what he is trying to tell me. When an honest conversation happens, then I may be able to assist this young person to sort through his feelings and emotions. One clarifying question that may be helpful to ask at this stage is this: “What is the hardest to bear right now?” This question often opens up a conversation where the youth has an opportunity to tell me how he feels. Sometimes the answer is that he misses his family or that the thought of a long sentence scares him or makes him feel hopeless. I validate and acknowledge those feelings. If the response is related to feelings of isolation, I may share with him that he is allowed two one-hour visits a week, and one collect phone call a day. This information alone is helpful for that young person.

My pastoral care is grounded in pastoral theology. I have adopted the concepts of Howard Clinebell’s five functions of pastoral care. Clinebell named five functions of pastoral care: healing, sustaining, guiding, reconciling, and nurturing (1984, p. 42). The first function, healing “aims to overcome some impairment by restoring the person to wholeness and by leading him to advance beyond his previous condition” (1984, p. 42). The impairments that are present in the young Latinos I encounter are the wounds that are sometimes inflicted on them by their own families either by neglect, physical and emotional abuse, or by unstable living circumstances. Often, these juveniles were raised in single-parent homes where the father was absent. With no positive male role models, it is easy for these young men to get lured into joining a gang. But as it turns out, the gang does not solve their problems, despite the promises of money, drugs, alcohol, and girls. Eventually, the new gang member has to go “on missions,” which can involve selling drugs or stolen property, or beating up a rival gang member. At this point, the honeymoon is over, and now the harsh reality of gang life begins.

The young men I see in detention carry wounds, some are visible and some are invisible. The invisible wounds often take the longest time to heal. I try to put myself into their place with empathy and compassion. This is difficult because their world is so different from my own. Nevertheless, I have found that by creating a safe space for them to tell their story and validating them as persons makes healing possible. It is in this context of my pastoral relationship with them that I ask some initial reflective questions, such as:

What do you enjoy doing?

Their responses to these questions, however thoughtful or halting, are the beginning of a pastoral care relationship.

In order to invite a deeper exploration of their spirituality or of what matters most to them, I employ David Hodge’s spiritual assessment tools. These are questions to help assess the care receiver’s spirituality:

In whom or in what do you put your hope?

By asking these questions, the young offenders are given an opportunity to think and hopefully begin to see themselves apart from the gang. I tell the gang members that the gang does not have to define them for the rest of their lives. At the same time, I also realize that for some gang members breaking away from the gang is extremely difficult. Clinebell's first function of pastoral care is healing: “overcoming impairment or restoring the person to wholeness (l984, p. 42).” “This might not be fulfilled while these young men are in detention.” Some do not stay long enough and some of the serious offenders are sent to a state juvenile facility or to an adult prison. Whatever their circumstances, my hope is that the pastoral care encounters I had with these young men were the beginning of a new and life-giving way of thinking and behaving.

Clinebell’s second function of pastoral care is sustaining: “helping a hurting person to endure and transcend” circumstances that might not change (1984, p. 42). In the juvenile justice system, sustaining may include offering encouragement to a youth who has to face a stern judge or experiences discrimination by the community at large. According to Clinebell, the pastoral care function of sustaining recognizes that “the community and even churches sometimes offer little or no support” (1984, p. 42). It is true that several church groups come to the detention facility and offer Bible studies. I have heard from some gang members that they did not feel welcomed when they attended a church service because of their gang-related tattoos and clothing. In my experience, it is crucial to be an affirming pastoral care provider while the juveniles are in the detention center because they receive little or no support once they are released.

Clinebell’s third function of pastoral care is guiding: “assisting perplexed persons to make confident choices between alternative courses … affecting … the state of the soul” (1984, p. 42). Guiding a young Latino while he is in detention is not an easy task. Gang members are often not open to “guiding,” if it is seen as manipulative. Some express feeling proud of being a gang member and others have been indoctrinated with fear and control. Typically, gang members do not want to appear weak. They put up a strong, if not a false, front. It takes patience to discover their “soft” spot. Sometimes I start by asking what they enjoy doing when they are not in detention. Many of the detained youth enjoy the same things as any other teenager, such as playing sports, going to the movies, shopping for clothes, or having barbeques in the park. Another question that is helpful in getting to know the youth is asking about what they are good at. Some are good at playing football or basketball; others are good at drawing, math, or using computers. They all have talents and skills, and it is important to acknowledge that fact.

Clinebell’s fourth function of pastoral care is reconciling, which “seeks to re-establish broken relationships” among persons and between persons and God (1984, p. 42). This is a challenge for those in detention. Some gang members have burned bridges with their biological families and then become totally devoted to their new family—the gang. Others realize that their membership in a gang has brought hardship on themselves and their families. In the latter case, reconciliation can happen when the young gang member receives visits from his family in detention. The time they spend together is an opportunity to rekindle relationships, to ask for forgiveness, and hopefully to be granted forgiveness.

Reconciliation between an offender and God is also a challenge since some offenders believe that even God cannot forgive their crimes. These offenders have often committed very serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, or rape. In one pastoral care encounter with a young gang member who had stabbed a man multiple times, it became clear that he was not sure if God could forgive him. I told him that God is willing to forgive him if he asks for forgiveness.

Clinebell’s fifth function of pastoral care is nurturing: enabling “people to develop their God-given potential throughout the journey of life with all its valleys, peaks, and plateaus” (1984, pp. 42–43). Nurturing is the process of helping another person to become whole, or what Christian theology calls sanctification. Through affirmation, I seek to build up the self-worth of the young men I encounter in detention in order to nurture their souls. In the context of the juvenile justice system, the function of nurturing also means helping create systems that deal with juvenile offenders justly and fairly on a systemic level. On an individual level, though, I am most interested in how the young offender develops as a human being.

I have found Clinebell’s five functions of pastoral care to be life giving for youth struggling in the darkness of detention. They broaden and deepen the care receiver’s self-worth, which is both empowering and liberating.

Carrie Doehring’s postmodern approach to pastoral care, which stresses “storytelling as the heart of pastoral care,” is very helpful” (2015, p. xiv). Stories allow the care receiver to “lament, express anger, and question all they know about life” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). Care receivers become authors in the process of telling their stories. When pastoral care is experienced as “narrative, it becomes more relational and communal” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). A narrative approach is about trust; the more the care receiver trusts the pastoral care provider, the more the care receiver will open up and share the difficult parts of his or her life including stories of trauma. A narrative approach is also about finding meaning in the midst of stress, suffering, and joy. Relational trust opens up space for “co-creating meanings that make emotional and spiritual sense within the narrative context of personal and communal life” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). Paying close attention to the care receiver’s narrative; the pastoral care provider follows “the meanings that emerge as the story unfolds” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). In this context, theological reflection becomes “collaborative and inductive” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). This inductive approach makes room for “theological meanings to emerge from the care receiver’s story” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). Narrative pastoral care is contextual since it is grounded in the “particularity of personal, family, and communal stories” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). Lastly a narrative approach is about assessing and comparing theological meanings that emerge from conversations with “historical, biblical or other sacred texts, and global theologies” (Doehring, 2015, p. xv). A suffering care receiver may question previously held beliefs and sacred values. A compassionate pastoral care provider offers a safe, respectful space for exploring new meanings. A skilled pastoral care provider is able to draw on her or his theological training to think biblically and comparatively in the context of helping the care receiver to explore new meanings and contextual theologies (Doehring, 2015, p. xv).

In my pastoral care setting, holding a safe space for young offenders to tell their stories is important because for many it is the first opportunity they have had to do so. Listening with compassion and a non-judgmental attitude validates them. As a story unfolds, I can explore with them what it might mean to know they are loved by God, to be forgiven, or to love themselves. Offenders often struggle with self-love because they have not experienced love of any kind. Thus, the most healing pastoral care I can provide is to model God’s love for them.

James Fowler, who was a theologian and the originator of faith development research, offers helpful insights. In his work, Faith Development and Pastoral Care, he notes that between the ages of eleven and thirteen, the capacities for abstract thinking begins to form. This has direct implications for the development of selfhood and faith. Fowler calls this stage the “Synthetic-Conventional stage of faith” (1987, pp. 63–64). The youth must synthesize values, beliefs, and allegiances that will support and confirm her or his sense of identity. Values, commitments, and relationships are seen as central to identity and worth. In this stage, according to Fowler, approval and affirmation by significant others are crucial (1987, p. 65). Also the typical youth in this stage sees God as one “who knows us better than we can know ourselves.” “God knows who we are and who we are becoming” (Fowler, 1987, p. 66). This stage of faith is befitting for some of the young offenders I see in detention. But others are still stuck in the previous stage of what Fowler calls the “Mythic-Literal Faith” (1987, p. 62). In this construct, God is seen as the stern, powerful ruler: a God who rewards people when they do right, and punishes them when they do wrong (Fowler, 1987, p. 62). This is why some offenders have trouble seeing God as a loving and forgiving God.

Thus the function of nurturing for the pastoral care provider is to assess and appreciate the phase in which the offender sees himself. Good pastoral care can be accomplished especially with those offenders who are in detention for longer periods of time. For those offenders who go on to a juvenile or an adult prison, I write a blessing as an act of nurturing and caring. It is a short narrative reminding them of their value and worth as a person. This gives me some closure, because there is nothing more I can do for them. At the same time, however, it is my hope that the blessing will bring some comfort.

Above all, I want to emphasize the importance of having compassion for the detained youth. Henri Nouwen’s definition of compassion influenced me both on a personal and on a professional level, and illustrates my vocational yearning at the core of my present endeavor. The following is an excerpt:

Compassion grows with the inner recognition that your neighbor shares your humanity with you. Across all barriers of land and language, wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance, we are one, created from the same dust, subject to the same laws, and destined for the same end (1972, p. 56).

This is a daring acknowledgement of our mutual destiny. It keeps me humble and mindful that I need to lean on prayer in order to be an effective pastoral care provider. Prayer and self-reflection are necessary preparations for the ministry I provide. In Nouwen et al.’s words, “In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ” (1982, p. 117).

Writing as Pastoral and Spiritual Care

The creative writing class I implemented at the detention center has opened up opportunities for detained youth to write and share about their lives. This narrative approach to pastoral care has proven to be a source of healing and of developing empathy and compassion for those who share their stories. For many youth this has been the first time they told their stories in a safe environment. Writing is a healing experience for those who are in pain, and for those who seek understanding.

Within the juvenile detention context I believe that I provide sound pastoral care, which is both compassionate and empathetic. I would not claim, however, that my pastoral care prevents juveniles from reoffending. Absent valuable clinical studies on pastoral care and recidivism, it is easy to assume that pastoral care is not effective in the detention setting. The reality, however, is that the youth I care for have little to no support once they leave the detention facility. Even though most youth do very well in detention and take advantage of the educational programs that are offered, it is unrealistic to think that they can make it on their own without a support system. As their stories show their personal circumstances are often chaotic, unhealthy, and dangerous. Nevertheless, the pastoral care provider has an important contribution to make in the detention setting: he or she brings a faith perspective that is based on hope, redemption, and compassion.