Foster Care, Youth Justice, & the Criminal Legal Panel
Additional Resources
For their 2019-2020 annual project, youth advocates in Youth Fostering Change (YFC) decided to tackle the incredible need for community-based and therapeutic supports and access to mental wellness services for youth in care. Youth advocates used their personal experiences in this system to identify what supports they needed at key points in their time in care that were not provided for them. Youth advocates from YFC crafted recommendations both locally and statewide to support these mental and behavioral health needs of young people in the child welfare system. In these recommendations, youth advocates are advocating for more robust community-based supports for youth who are already system-involved and for supports to prevent them and their families from ever becoming system-involved.
Featured Organizations
Juvenile Law Center - https://jlc.org/
Founded in 1975, Juvenile Law Center was the first nonprofit, public interest law firm for children in the country. As an advocacy organization we now use multiple approaches to accomplish our mission: legal advocacy, policy advocacy. youth-led advocacy, and strategic communications. Our strategies are interconnected. We pair impact litigation with policy advocacy and community organizing to push for lasting and transformative change. Our policy agenda is informed by—and often conducted in collaboration with—youth, family members, and grassroots partners. Our youth advocacy campaigns respond to legal and policy opportunities in the field. In all our work, we seek out strategic communications opportunities to enhance the work and to shape public opinion. We seek opportunities across the country to work where we can respond to identified needs in the community, build on local partnerships, leverage legislative and legal reform opportunities and create momentum for change.
Silent Cry Inc. - https://silentcryinc.org/
Silent Cry Inc. is a New York based non-profit organization that takes a holistic approach to aftercare form mass incarceration, gun violence and trauma. We understand that the quality of care is the single biggest factor for impacting and invoking changes. We support affected children and families during and after a challenging period. We use our skill sets and experiences to continuously tap into what is happening in the community. We understand the challenges people face in the process of self-development and when overcoming grief.