CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming Military Department wants to talk to troubled teenagers about a proven path to turn around their lives.

But from the beginning of its Youth ChalleNGe program, the Wyoming National Guard has had difficulties in identifying the 16- to 18-year-old candidates for the military-type program at Camp Guernsey.

That problem persists.

Recruiting is a problem because the school districts don't track dropouts and the youth program isn't court-ordered.

The Legislature last winter gave the program a boost by codifying it into law and giving the Guard more leeway in spending the state's share of matching dollars.

The new law also requires an annual report on the enrollment and number of youths who successfully complete the program, a detailed list of spending and a report on the status of graduates for the preceding four years "to the extent available."

The lawmakers also set a June 30, 2012 date to terminate the program unless the Legislature extends it.

Members of the legislative committee on Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs that sponsored the bill recently discussed the recruiting problem, the chairman, Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, said this week.

"We suspect there are more children out there" whom the Guard recruiters haven't identified, he said.

"You have get to the child, you have to do some convincing and you have to advertise to the point where you have a large enough population that considers it," he said.

"That was our discussion, that they need to be in front of the judges to explain to them, to the school districts and to advertise in general," Von Flatern added.

He said the committee was told that the Guard has been making presentations to judges and school districts to raise awareness of the program.

"Our biggest problem in recruiting is finding them in the first place," said Doug Shope, deputy director of the Wyoming Military Department.

During the downtime between the youth program classes, four to six administrative staff members work on statewide recruiting by contacting school counselors and others who might keep a checklist of dropouts on their desks, he said.

The federal government requires the state to track the graduates for one year after they leave the five-month program.

Now the Legislature wants to find what has happened to them after four years.

The Guard tracks the graduates on My Space accounts, if possible.

"Those are easy," Shope said, "if we have these kids doing the automation thing, keeping people up to date on where they are."

But for 49 of the approximately 100 graduates, there is no information on their jobs or locations.

"They have fallen off the face of the earth as far as we know," Shope said.

Fifteen cadets are in the regular Army or Navy, and two joined the Army National Guard. Four are incarcerated, according to the Guard's annual report, while others are attending college or have jobs.

"The whole point of the program, like any other criminal rehabilitation program, is to get them out of the environment," Shope said.

"The best thing is for them to go into the military because they will be geographically separated from the people that got them in trouble in the first place, whether family, friends, economic problems or problems in school," he said.

For the kids who graduate, the program is "extremely successful," he added. But it is costly.

Because Wyoming's classes for the program have been smaller than in other states, the federal government in the past has threatened to cut funding.

The state must appropriate money up to the full match while the federal payment is based on the number of students, or cadets, in the program.

After spending up to the federal match, the Guard now can use up to 100 percent of the state dollars appropriated if there is too little federal money to cover additional justifiable expenditures, Shope said.

The program ran about $1 million short this fiscal year. The annual budget was $2.8 million but funding, state and federal, totaled only $1.8 million.

A bill before Congress would increase the federal match to 75 percent and reduce the states' share to 25 percent, said Christopher Crofts, counsel to Gov. Dave Freudenthal. The ratio currently is 60-40.

Freudenthal and the Obama administration support the youth training and education program.

During this fourth year of the program, the Guard held two classes.

A total of 104 students were enrolled in the two-week pre-ChalleNGe program where they get a taste of what it's like.

Thirteen recruits dropped out, leaving 91 students to start the regular program.

Of the 91 students, 66 graduated. Of the 66 graduates, 53 received their high school equivalency certificates.

This year the cost per graduate totaled $30,782, down from $44,496 the previous year.

Of that total, the School Foundation Program through the Department of Education provided $11,440 per graduate, according to the annual report to the Legislature.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at 307-632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com