The Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Project (TCAP) models the use of restorative practices, an emerging movement that works to repair and strengthen people’s relationships and social connections. Restorative practices embody many of the same ideas as therapeutic jurisprudence and the ecology of human development. By using restorative practices to resolve conflicts and address trauma, the TCAP empowers children, families and professionals to put these skills into practice in their work, lives and communities.
Restorative practices (RP) use participatory learning to help people make better decisions. In a Full Court Press article outlining the use of restorative practice approaches in CFCC’s Tackling Chronic Absenteeism, TCAP Mentor Arion Alston writes: “Restorative practice is a social science that contains elements rooted in behaviors of indigenous cultures all over the world, from Native American to Maori, African, Asian, Celtic, Hebrew, Arab and many others. Its purpose is to build healthy communities, increase social capital, decrease crime and antisocial behavior, repair harm and restore relationships. It correlates with research in education, psychology, social work and criminology.
“In the criminal justice field, for example, restorative circles and restorative conferences allow victims, offenders and their family members and friends to come together to explore how everyone has been affected by an offense and, when possible, to decide how to repair the harm and meet their own needs. In education, circles provide opportunities for students to share their feelings, build relationships and solve problems and, when there is wrongdoing, to play an active role in addressing the wrong leading to repair in the relationship. The operational dynamic of restorative practice circles is based on the 5 Rs: relationship, respect, responsibility, repair and re-integration.”