A year ago, Tara — whose name has been changed to protect the identity of her children — was worried her son was headed for jail.
His behavior was so bad the widow with three other children at home didn’t know what she was going to do.
Her son was kicked out of school and was in the court system.
Her younger son had developed an “I don’t care” attitude after the death of his father. He was retained because he wasn’t able to keep up with his classmates.
Now, just a few months into the school year, he has caught up with his classmates and moved up to the next grade level.
Last month, he was named a student of the month.

His teachers say they wish they had 20 students just like him.
Tara says a program in the school system saved the lives of her sons.
“I credit KEYS as the ones that helped them through all that,” Tara said.
Kentuckians Encouraging Youth to Succeed – or KEYS – is a program that began last year after the implementation of the Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline that works with the schools to establish positive-behavior standards in the student body.
KEYS addresses the problems of both the students and their families if they are having trouble.
The program is covered by a $9.5 million grant, administered by North Key. The community health organization provides mental health services over an eight-county region in Northern Kentucky. The grant makes Kentucky the first state to be covered by Community Mental Health Care Centers.
In Owen County, the program became operational nearly a year ago, in December 2005, when Tony Watkins first stepped into the role of school therapist. In addition to his position, the program provides family liaisons and a service coordinator at both the middle and high schools. Along with Watkins, Denise Beck, Danny Morgan and Beth Garcia work in the program.
Beck and Garcia serve as family liasons, while Morgan is the service coordinator. His job includes coordinating the services the family needs with those offered in the community. He has worked in mental health for 21 years and got involved with KEYS through Watkins. He has been at the high school for three months and has already seen students improve in the program.
Morgan said they check on the students regularly and make sure things are OK.
“That’s the key to success for the program and for the kids,” he said.
Morgan said he enjoys seeing the improvement in the students.
“Knowing where they come from and where they are now is rewarding,” he said.
The program addresses the needs of about 15 percent of the schools’ population and mostly deals with students whose behavior issues can’t be handled in the classroom. In addition, students must have a diagnosable learning disorder.
But the goal of the program isn’t to provide initial help and then walk away. Watkins and his colleagues help families work with their situation.
He said the goal of KEYS is to “empower the family to reach the goals they have.” He said he has seen families empowered to take control of their lives.
“It’s very person-centered work,” Watkins said, “each plan is individualized.”
 To receive help from KEYS, a student must be referred by an adult in the school system, anyone from a bus driver to a guidance counselor. When referred, the person making the referral must highlight the child’s strengths, in addition to pointing out the issues at hand. Then, Watkins said, he and his team work on the student’s strengths as opposed to highlighting their weaknesses.
Not all cases are successful though. Watkins said there have been students referred who have dropped out. Many are helped by the services provided, however. Some who were close to serving time in jail are now on the honor roll.
“A lot is dependent on the family,” Watkins said. “They need to invest in it.”
Bowling Middle School principal JoElla Wallace said KEYS has been “tremendously helpful.”
Since KEYS has been working with the middle school Wallace said she has seen a definite improvement in behavior. She said that because some situations require immediate attention, she is appreciative of their help.
“(KEYS) is a valuable resource we need these days,” she said. “We’re dealing with different things.”
The program operates under the systems of care philosophy, which stresses that all the different systems in a family — physical, mental and emotional — must be addressed in order to turn the child and the family around. Through a series of meetings with the students, their family members, teachers, counselors and Watkins, the family gets to the root of the problem and figures out a way to make it right.
In addition to working with the students, KEYS personnel also address similar needs with the family, and the family liaison portion of the project gives parents the opportunity to network with other parents in similar situations.
“I think it’s mainly where the parents can get together and talk about problems they’re having,” Tara said.
In the past year, there have been about 75 cases, 42 of which are open right now.
“The hardest thing is that we can’t help more kids,” Watkins said.
Even after cases are closed, Watkins said the team still checks on the family from time to time.
That includes Tara’s family, despite her sons’ miraculous turn- arounds.
Tara said she trusts the KEYS personnel, including Watkins, who is a minister. And she said she trusts the input she gets from KEYS. Whatever problem she may have, she said she knows she can call KEYS and they will listen.
“It’s someone to fall back on if I need it,” she said.
She said she knows several parents that are in the same situation she is and she has recommended KEYS to them. She said they have helped not only the boys but her as well.
“I recommend (KEYS) 100 percent,” she said. “I highly believe if KEYS didn’t step in, the boys would have been in the system. After my husband died, they had an ‘I don’t care’ attitude, and KEYS pulled them out of it.”

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