NCJ Number
235248
Date Published
May 2011
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This paper presents a pathway for improving the child welfare and juvenile justice systems that will leave children, youth, and their families with a different set of experiences.
Abstract
The paper begins with a call for change that requires intervention in order to define and implement a strategy of family engagement that involves both juvenile justice and child welfare in family-centered, collaborative case management. Family engagement is broadly defined in terms of who participates in case management and at what levels. The family group includes the youths as well as their relatives and social kin. Levels of input range from practice to program to policy. The authors examine strategies for advancing family leadership at the practice, program, and policy levels. Findings on family engagement in child welfare and juvenile justice practice are summarized. The paper recommends ways to reposition juvenile justice and child welfare systems so as to engage youth and their families, victims of juvenile offending, other systems, and the broader community in a collaborative effort that addresses the needs of troubled youth and their families as well as any victims impacted by youth's problem behavior. In highlighting the strategy of family engagement, the authors counter traditional approaches that have estranged youths from their families; consider current political and demographic trends; link family engagement to domestic legislative changes and international conventions on human rights; align family engagement with recent research findings; and support partnership approaches to practice, programming, and policy. Extensive references and appended systems of core values and principles, achievement of family group conferencing objectives, juvenile relational inquiry tool, and tools for identifying family and community relationships