Recent news

As part of National Adoption Month, we’re kicking off a special blog series focused on older youth in foster care and the importance of family and permanency. Throughout November, we’ll highlight the need for family and permanency, investigate common barriers, uplift success stories, and share policies and reforms that support achieving permanency for older youth in foster care.

We’re thrilled to announce the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) selected Juvenile Law Center’s Deputy Director and Chief Counsel Marsha Levick for the 2017 Catchers in the Rye Humanitarian Award – the Academy’s highest honor. Marsha was recognized at the AACAP’s annual event on Wednesday in Washington, DC.

In August, Juvenile Law Center launched a series of blog posts based on our new report on improving access to career pathways for system-involved youth. The series highlighted several initiatives taking place in Philadelphia that could be replicated elsewhere, and it featured interviews with key local stakeholders.

In our last blog post about supporting disconnected youth as they navigate the path to a successful career, we highlighted the significant challenges youth face

Yesterday, The Root published a piece on our recently released national report on solitary confinement at juvenile facilities, including an interview with Staff Attorney Natane Eaddy. Our report offers strategies towards ending the abusive practice nationwide and continues Juvenile Law Center’s critical work to stop solitary confinement of kids.

The Senate is dangerously close to passing the Graham-Cassidy bill, the latest in a series of bills which aims to repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate the current funding of Medicaid. Juvenile Law Center and other child advocates are deeply concerned about the threats this legislation poses to children in the child welfare system.

Trauma-informed care must be included alongside other career programming so that youth can begin properly preparing gainful employment upon release. If trauma-informed care and job training are implemented successfully, our juvenile justice system can become a real instrument for positive change and rehabilitation.