There is a growing movement to study and hear from youth who have experienced the child welfare system is reshaping what legal permanency should look like for adolescents. Youth-led groups and organizations are ensuring the child welfare system is viewed through the lens of youth who have been there. An undercurrent is a need for youth-centered legal permanency options that integrate youths’ individual and collective voices, current knowledge and research, and developmental science as it relates to permanency for youth.
A recent Judge’s Action Alert entitled “Judges’ Roles in Promoting Youth-Centered Legal Permanency” was issued by the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
The action alert defines youth-centered legal permanency, highlights how legal permanency options for youth are changing to be more youth-centered, explains how judges can support youth-centered legal permanency, highlights brain science research as it related to permanency for youth, and shares additional resources on youth-centered legal permanency.
The full 8-page alert can be accessed at <https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/child_law/youth-centered-permanency.pdf>
