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Da’Shaun Brown was 16 when he was arrested last October in Kansas City and then ordered to stand trial as an adult. Youth of color make up an overwhelming majority — 95% — of those charged and tried as adults in Jackson County. That rate “is especially appalling,” said Kate Burdick, senior attorney at the Juvenile Law Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit. Nationally, Black and Hispanic youth account for 66% of the cases that are sent to adult court.

As National Kinship Care month ends, we wanted to reflect on all that we have learned from kin, families, and youth who have provided their brave and honest thoughts for how we can improve our state and national practices surrounding family preservation. There are many policy improvements that can be made, and this final blog in the series will focus on recommendations for lawmakers to consider.

Juvenile Law Center applauds this successful bipartisan effort, urges the Senate to pass the bill.

It is said that the most fortunate people are those who have found a calling. When I wandered into the field of child advocacy over 30 years ago, I quickly became one of those fortunate people. I love my work and I am grateful to have worked alongside many passionate and talented lawyers for children.

Traditionally, the world of child welfare has been one that is unpredictable and rather complicated to navigate.  This year has proven to be a challenge, making resources even more scarce due to a pervasive need for support. With so many grabbing at the same bag of resources, it has become crucial to become creative with how to support those we serve.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, 2020 from 3-5 p.m., and can be viewed on the Task Force website. The September 30, 2020 meeting will focus on data related to fines, fees, and restitution, as well as youth who are charged as adults. Look for a future blog summarizing what occurs.

Ensuring that children and youth have permanency is one of the core duties of the child welfare system and is vital for the healthy development of the children in their care. While providing permanency is a legal mandate for all children, it is pursued with less urgency, creativity, and resources as youth age, and as a result, young people suffer real harm.

Over the next four months, through a series of online events and blogs, we will look back on our 45 years of advocating for rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the child welfare and justice systems. Amidst COVID-19 and the racial reckoning underway in our country, it is challenging to celebrate (but we need to do so!) - and critical to reflect.

Over the past 14 years, I have worked to improve government systems for vulnerable children and families. This work is personal to me because I spent part of my childhood in foster care. I know what it’s like to be a small, defenseless child on the other end of a giant, dysfunctional government system.

In 2019, one of Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy programs, Youth Fostering Change, chose as their policy project older youth permanency. Many of the young people in the group aged out without being connected to family and they had a lot to say about what could have been done to help them find family, including their own relatives and kin.