Recent news

Each year our youth advocates in Youth Fostering Change and Juveniles for Justice do amazing work focused on one reform issue, and this year was no different. We’re so excited to share this video featuring YFC’s final project and policy recommendations to empower youth in dependency court hearings.

As any high schooler can tell you, finding paid work experiences in today’s economy can be a real challenge. But youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice and foster care systems face a particularly difficult road.

In the past decade, America has become incredibly different than it was in the years before.

Large numbers of youth leave the child welfare and juvenile justice systems without their vital documents or they are not able to maintain them due to housing instability. Not having these records makes smoothly transitioning to adulthood difficult, if not impossible.

As summer comes to a close, many teens around the country are wrapping up one of the first steps in their “career pathway”: a summer job. These short-term positions are not just a pastime; research shows that summer employment reduces dropout rates, improves long-term employment prospects, and decreases the chance of future involvement in the criminal justice system.

The revival of strong mandatory sentencing schemes matches the “tough on crime” approach touted by the Trump administration. While mandatory minimums negatively impact all individuals involved in the criminal justice system, youth particularly face long-term consequences.

As an organization serving all youth impacted by the child welfare and justice systems, Juvenile Law Center forcefully condemns the white supremacist violence and hatred from this past weekend in Charlottesville. Racism in our country, which has been a part of our history and legacy, was there before this weekend’s brutal display and remains after.

On July 15th, 2017, the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges adopted a Resolution Addressing the Needs of Homeless Youth and Families in Juvenile and Family Courts. This is a groundbreaking resolution that explicitly acknowledges the relationship between child welfare and juvenile justice system involvement and homelessness.