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It’s been six months since Celia Peoples last saw her 14-year-old son. He is only five hours away from her home in the small downstate town of Harrisburg, Ill., but Peoples, who is unemployed and barely making ends meet, can’t afford to take a car or a bus to visit him. Peoples’ son is incarcerated in the Illinois Youth Center Kewanee. “I just don’t have the money to go see him,” she said.

A recent conversation with a group of friends reminded me that discussions about money are complicated and can move easily from discussion to heated argument. I said that more public funds should be dedicated to research about positive outcomes for kids in the juvenile justice system and that the research would lead to development of additional evidence-based programs and practices.

Most kids can’t wait for summer; they’re itching to get out of school and into the world. But when that world lacks basic resources–like food, shelter and safety–summer could be the scariest time of year. On the far south side of Chicago, there’s a school that offers an oasis–but its funding might soon run dry.

Illinois state legislators are considering reforms to the youth prison system to address sexual abuse that was brought to light in a recent federal study.