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Monday, May. 17, 1999

Kids care for dolls as community service

Lifelike babies to teach responsibility to juvenile offenders

By NOVELDA SOMMERS
Staff Writer

   Juvenile probation authorities want troubled youths to learn the responsibilities of parenting the hard way: By trying it.
   Starting next month, juveniles ordered to perform community service to make up for their misdeeds will have the option of taking home lifelike dolls for a weekend, said Rick Papageorge, supervisor of the Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center's restitution program.
   "It's community service because they are actually learning a little responsibility," Papageorge said. "And if it keeps them from becoming pregnant, it helps them get on better with their lives."
   The dolls contain computer chips and are programmed to cry at random intervals day and night for varying lengths of time, just like a real baby. They can only be pacified by the assigned juvenile, who must hold a key in the doll's back until it stops crying - up to a half hour depending on what the baby needs.
   Lights on the back of the doll flash if it is jarred, abused or left to cry.
   After the teens attend a class conducted by staff from Planned Parenthood, which owns the dolls, keys will be attached to hospital bracelets placed on participants' wrists so that they cannot be removed without tampering.
   When the weekend is over, information from the doll's computer chips will be processed to determine how responsible the juvenile was as a parent.
   Youths who sign up to take the doll thinking it will be easier than raking leaves or picking up litter are in for a rude awakening - all night long, said Cinda LeBus, who leads the training sessions for Planned Parenthood.
   Unlike real babies, the dolls' temperaments can be programmed to be good or cranky.
   The dolls used for community service will be set on cranky, LeBus said. All of the dolls wail for about two hours a day, LeBus said, but the cranky ones cry frequently for shorter periods of time.
   "We find that when most kids come back with the dolls, they're red-eyed, they're frustrated," said LeBus, who has used the dolls to teach school and community groups about parenting. "Some are very upset."
   The youths also must fill out budgets for food, diapers, medical care and emergencies, she said.
   Papageorge said eight juveniles will be in the pilot program that begins June 4.
   They will take the dolls home on a Friday night and bring them back Monday, he said. If the dolls are properly cared for, the youths will have fulfilled 60 hours of community service.
   If not, the failed students will be picking up trash or volunteering at a nonprofit agency to complete their service requirements, he said.
   Staff writer Novelda Sommers can be reached at 886-3774 or by e-mail at sommersn@caller.com

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  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.