Recent news

The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services released a new joint guidance about implementation of the foster care school stability provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Marsha Levick, Co-Founder, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel, Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia was a finalist for the "Attorney of the Year" award by The Legal Intelligencer newspaper/American Lawyer Media June 21, 2016.

This year was another great year for our youth advocates. Both programs were passionate about improving access to higher education for youth in the child welfare and justice systems. Each group developed a unique project that tackled this issue from slightly different angles.

Youth First Initiative's recent national public opinion poll shows that most Americans overwhelmingly favor shifting the focus of the juvenile justice system from punishment and incarceration to prevention and rehabilitation. Juvenile Law Center is a national partner with Youth First, and their national poll results align with what we know does – and doesn’t – work when it comes to how we treat youth in the juvenile justice system.

Youth in foster care often describe normalcy as being able to do all the things their friends who are not in foster care get to do: sleep over at a friend’s house, play on a school team, or go on vacation. But foster youth are routinely denied these typical childhood experiences because of the real or perceived need to get advance approval from the child welfare agency or the court.

Youth homelessness is multifaceted, complex, and very different from adult homelessness. A major contributor to youth homelessness nationwide is the failure of the child welfare system to find permanency for all youth in care. Older youth, regardless of age, need and deserve to be connected to a permanent family and support system that both lifts them up and cushions them if they fall.

On April 28, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation to recognize May as National Foster Care Month. This year, the theme for Foster Care Month is "Honoring, Uniting, and Celebrating Families."

Foster youth have plans for their future similar to all youth: college, vocational school, getting a good job. The vast majority of foster youth face extreme barriers to achieving these aspirations: only half will graduate from high school, and fewer than 10% will earn a bachelor’s degree by the time they turn 25 (compared to 38% of the general population). Law and policy should support foster youth as they prepare for, attend, and complete college or vocational school.

Over 600 colleges and universities use the Common Application, which includes a check box asking applicants about any past juvenile crimes. Although research shows that most schools don’t deny admission based on this information, the vast majority of youth with records who see this check box will not complete the college application.

Each year, over 1 million youth are arrested across the country, and 95% of those arrests are for non-violent offenses. Kids are increasingly being arrested by police officers working in schools for behaviors that schools used to handle as routine disciplinary problems: throwing an eraser, chewing gum, or arguing in the hallway. Keeping kids from entering the juvenile justice system is an important step in curbing the flow of the school-to-prison pipeline and making sure kids can get their lives back on track. Diversion programs help keep kids out of the system, and these programs work best when youth are diverted before they’re even arrested.