January is National Mentoring Month. Research has shown that mentoring programs can be an effective tool for enhancing the positive development of youth in the foster care system.

Over the past three decades, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has supported a variety of mentoring programs to meet the needs of at-risk and troubled youth. The office works on traditional one-on-one relationships, group mentoring, e-mentoring and other innovative approaches to reach teens. Continue Reading

Bullying among young children is not uncommon. When young children–who often differ in physical size, skill level, and family experience–get together, patterns of hurtful behavior often emerge.

Children may be mean to each other by making mean faces, saying threatening things, grabbing objects, pushing others aside, or refusing to play with others. Some young children may engage in actual bullying behaviors by deliberately and repeatedly dominating a vulnerable child by name-calling, physical attacks, and excluding others from playing with them. Continue Reading

Bullying can happen anywhere. It can happen in person, online, or behind your back. But there are some groups that are at higher risk.

Erin Reiney is the Director of Injury and Violence Prevention at the Health Resources and Service’s Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). She leads HRSA’s Bullying Prevention efforts, and serves as project officer for the MCHB Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) Resource Center Consortium and the Children’s Safety Network National Resource Center.... Continue Reading

Our recent Stop Bullying Video Challenge and our ongoing Ad Council “Be More than a Bystander” campaign are helping to promote the message that it is up to all of us to stand up against bullying, even if we are not personally involved.

Newly published research in Children and Youth Services Reviewshows just how important being the one who stands up is in encouraging others to do the same.

Authors Wernick,... Continue Reading

Nikki Allinson is a great example of how some students who have been bullied can turn their experience into a passion for helping others. Nikki, currently 23 years old, experienced bullying in middle school and is now an advocate and leader for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit organization working to reduce biased-based bullying in schools.

Nikki’s story begins in middle school, where she said that her peers lacked an understanding about her Jewish heritage. When she asked for a day off from school for religious reasons, kids made fun of her for being Jewish both in person and through instant messenger. When the bullying got worse, she tried to avoid school but eventually told her parents about what was going on. Her parents gave her the support that she needed to get through the year, but the bullying continued... Continue Reading