Newsweek and LA Times Like Amity Foundation's Dragonfly Village

TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Newsweek and Los Angeles Times acknowledge unique aspects of Amity Foundation.

Both Newsweek magazine and a special edition of the Los Angeles Times sought out Amity Foundation as a flagship residential treatment center.  Both publications state "Amity is one of a very few in the nation that we could find that takes children into treatment with their mothers."  Amity's Tucson campus has been providing services to children and their mothers for 30 years.

During the 1990's Amity pioneered federal research grants in Tucson studying the effectiveness of providing a safe environment for children and mothers. During those projects 400 children were legally and emotionally reconciled with 250 mothers. Importantly, some 59 infants and toddlers who had been labeled "crack babies" were returned to age appropriate behavior. One of the Amity alumni, today, 31 years old stated, "I went to Amity on my sixth birthday to be reconciled with my mother. My start at Amity created a foundation that led me to college, to music, to confidence, to career."  Amity's CEO Rod Mullen, references the recent MIT study of 15,000 children that found that those who were able to stay with a parent did dramatically better than those in foster care.

This is not the first acknowledgement Amity has received, Alice Miller, author of "The Drama of the Gifted Child", renown for her work with childhood trauma and the roots of violence stated, "I am excited to see some new and alternative approaches such as we find at Amity in the United States. Amity puts emphasis on providing a safe place...." Of Amity's unique curriculum, which focuses on emotional literacy, Miller stated, "it teaches people how to become more human". The curriculum was co-authored by Naya Arbiter.

Amity is building on its 30 years of success with children and mothers. Under the leadership of Vice-President Ray Clarke, (formerly of Pima County Juvenile Court and the Tucson Urban League) Amity has launched a capital campaign to build a state of the art center where children can be reconciled with their mothers. Amity expects to be able to serve a hundred family members a year.  "We will be serving children who fall through the cracks," states Robin Rettmer, Amity Board Member.  "Many of these children don't even show up in foster care or crisis nurseries. Imagine living in the back of a car with your only teddy bear, imagine never having dinner with your Mom, imagine feeling invisible, no one ever noticing that you are hungry or hurt, imagine listening to 'authorities' who say you don't have a chance—and you are only eight… Imagine getting a chance.  That is what Amity Foundation's Dragonfly Village is going to do: build chances that bring comfort to children".

SOURCE Amity Foundation