The Mentor's Role Mentoring is often touted as one of the most cost-effective solutions to juvenile delinquency and recidivism. Mentoring programs engage community advocates and volunteer mentors who are assigned to work with delinquent or at-risk youth and their families.
Mentors can help create links from corrections to schools and the community.
In some cases, mentors help monitor youth's compliance with conditions of parole. Research provides evidence of resilient children who emerge from childhoods of poverty, abuse, neglect, and delinquency to become emotionally whole, capable adults. One of the documented protective factors that contributes to resiliency is the presence of a source of support outside the family. Mentors can be that source of support. A caring mentor can appropriately reflect and validate the youth's feelings, help with problems, and, at times, offer considered advice.