Should we look, then, for an alternative term for youngsters at risk? No. We should not use a label at all. Just as every child is unique, with individual strengths and challenges, it should be left to the individual parents, educators, mentors and mental-health professionals – and as much as possible the youngster himself – to take into account the specific circumstances and develop the best possible plan to respond.
As a prominent rosh yeshiva has said, “We are all at risk of something.” Why imply that only young people are at risk?
Our community – parents, schools, synagogues, mental health professionals – was rightly concerned with a noticeable rise in anti-social behavior among our youth. And our efforts to respond and mobilize resources resulted in many good services and programs.
Those efforts also yielded a term “at risk.” And while this has helped to correctly identify and help many youngsters, it brings with it the risk of unnecessarily stigmatizing and branding a child and a family.
Being labeled may take weeks or months. Shedding a label can take years or a lifetime. It is time to stop – and keep ourselves from labeling and stigmatizing a new generation of adolescents.