This guide is intended to help caseworkers, foster parents, or other caring adults learn about trauma experienced by youth in foster care and treatment options, including approaches other than psychotropic medication. The guide presents strategies for seeking help for youth, identifying appropriate treatment, and supporting youth in making decisions about their mental health. Additionally, this […]
Child welfare
Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
Overrepresentation of children of color in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems has been statistically proven in various studies over the years. Though this fact has been generally accepted and effort has been made to reduce disproportionality within both systems, much work remains to be done. In March 2008, a symposium titled “The Overrepresentation […]
Applying Proven Strategies to Reduce Racial & Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System
This webinar was offered to states participating in the initiative “Improving Diversion Policies and Programs for Justice Involved Youth with Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders: An Integrated Policy Academy/Action Network Initiative.” This initiative is an effort to increase the number of youth with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders diverted out of the […]
Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in Foster Care
LGBTQ foster youth are twice as likely to report poor treatment and more likely to live in group homes and to have more foster care placements. Approximately 1 in 5, or 1,400 foster youth in Los Angeles County, home to the nation’s largest population of foster youth, identify as LGBTQ. The finding is twice the […]
Ending Violence so Children Can Thrive
The Attorney’s General’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence was established in 2013, based upon a recommendation from the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. This American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Task Force has been anchored by an Advisory Committee consisting of non-federal experts in the area of AI/AN children exposed to violence and […]
Strategies from the Field to Keep Students Engaged in School and Out of the Juvenile Justice System
Research and data on school discipline practices are clear: millions of students are being removed from their classrooms each year, mostly in middle and high schools, and overwhelmingly for minor misconduct. When suspended, these students are at a significantly higher risk of falling behind academically, dropping out of school, and coming into contact with the juvenile justice system. A disproportionately large percentage […]