At the Family Court, we quickly learned how hard it is to obtain written monthly reports from male volunteers working one-to-one with boys on probation. Our situation was compounded by the fact that we were recruiting many men who, by design, were in trades that required skills other than writing. They simply were not used to recording their activities. We also discovered that some volunteers were hesitant to "report" on their youngster, feeling that this violated the relationship they were trying to build. We respected these facts, but still needed to monitor what was going on. Also, probation officers and judges wanted to include the progress of the probationers assigned to our program in their planning and counseling.
What to do? Our solution ended up being successful. We recruited volunteers who did not want to be matched, or were not appropriate for a match (especially women), and made them a sort of "case manager." Each of these administrative volunteers was assigned a case load of 10 to 20 matches and telephoned the volunteers monthly. They also telephoned the youth. I can't remember what title we assigned to this position, but it was something like "Team Reporter." The matched volunteers were given a report form on which to record the dates and hours they met with their boy, and any notes they wanted to make. We even included a column for the youth to complete, too, so that they could fill in the form together as a sort of diary of their relationship. All volunteers were given the choice of mailing in the report or working with a Team Reporter. Because they were expecting the Team Reporter's telephone call, the field volunteer was prepared with a response.
The Reporter recorded all responses on forms that then became the official report. These calls had some added benefits, too. The personal touch of the phone call provided greater connection with the volunteer working off-site, and in conversation potential problems surfaced more readily than they would have on paper. The Reporter was able to alert the program coordinator when a volunteer or a probationer needed her attention. Every month, the program coordinator selected ten or so matches to call herself, just to keep in the loop. We found, by the way, that this was a perfect assignment for students considering either social work or criminal justice counseling careers.