Because, even though these teenagers had done something wrong, they’d still craved, that their families can show them the cares and concerns, that the families hadn’t, given up on them yet, from the Newspapers, translated…
For the adolescents who’d gone down the wrong paths, who are now, in custody in the juvenile detention halls, they couldn’t go home to be with their families, to spend the holidays; the juvenile detention halls would always host its family gathering sessions ahead of the holidays, and, on New Year’s Eve, as well as January 3rd of the Lunar calendar year, they’d allowed the families to bring along the food items to visit.
The assistant director of the juvenile detention hall in Taipei, Hsu told, that those teens who were kept in lock-up had mostly been caught with illegal substances or theft, and there are about, 170 adolescent males and females there; if they’d not committed a major crime, and were on their best behaviors, the parents had, promised to teach them well, and the judge would usually be lenient, and, before the New Year’s, there would be ten, to twenty adolescents who would be allowed, to head home for the holidays.
And, a lot of the youths who were given this opportunity to go home would always promise, “I will improve”, or work hard, to get the positions of leadership, enter into speech contests, and wrote their confessions down; but, the juvenile detention halls, as well as the judge would, listen to the advices of the wardens, or the social workers, and, the teens don’t get released on good behaviors in just a few days of changing their ways.
As for the juveniles who’d stayed, the week before the New Year’s, the juvenile detention hall would host a gathering of families, which ALL the parents can come visit, and bring along three kilograms of celebratory New Year’s food for the children; and on that day, there would be footages of the assortment of activities of the detention hall, and the youths would have the opportunity, to show off their talents, and skills, and, normally, as the parents saw how much their children had changed, they would cry, and many parents had, gone up to the stage, and hugged their offspring.
But, there are also, the shied parents and children, without saying a word to one another, and, there were parents who’d scolded their adolescent offspring, only a small number of parents who’d had their children way too young, would laugh as they’d visited their children, and said, that they have nothing to worry about, now that their children were being kept in lock up, and the managers, the social workers, would step in, to counsel the parents.
And, there were, about half of the population of youths, whose parents don’t give a dam, or that they were, raised by their grandparents, and, the grandparents are too elderly to come, and, on the surface, these kids said,, that “they’d not felt anything about it, that they’re not surprised, that nobody came to visit”, but, actually, they’d all felt, disappointed on the inside, and so, the staff would pay close attention to these children, to offer them more counsel, to keep their emotions in check, and that day, the social workers would, lead them out of the meeting area of the families, and get them engaging in group activity.
And so, this, is what the system is doing, for this group of young people who’d done something bad, and, they’d been given a chance, to change their own lives, and, there are, half of the population of these young juveniles whose parents just, failed to show up, perhaps, because they’re too busy, making a living, providing for other members of their families, or that they simply just, don’t give a DAMN, and, that, is why these teens will keep going in and out of the detention halls, because NOBODY showed ANY inkling of care or concerns toward them!