JJIE Hub: Resources — Dual Status Youth

The following general resources provide a wealth of information on many aspects of dual status youth.

• Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, through the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice (RFK National Resource Center) and the Models for Change Initiative, developed the Guidebook for Juvenile Justice & Child Welfare System Coordination and Integration, 3^rd to help state and local jurisdictions implement enhanced multi-system practices to improve outcomes for dual status youth and their families. The guidebook uses a four-phase framework and highlights numerous examples from jurisdictions across the country.
• The Dual Status Youth – Technical Assistance Workbook is designed to be used in conjunction with the guidebook to advance the development of policy and practice for dual status youth.
• Addressing the Needs of Multi-System Youth: Strengthening the Connection between Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice, a joint report from the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, provides a framework for jurisdictions to utilize in their efforts to better serve dual status youth.
• The National Center for Juvenile Justice’s report, “When Systems Collaborate: How Three Jurisdictions Improved Their Handling of Dual-Status Cases,” provides case studies of three jurisdictions that provide promising examples of ways to coordinate information and services for dual status youth.
• The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice’s white paper, “From Conversation to Collaboration: How Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Agencies Can Work Together to Improve Outcomes for Dual Status Youth,” describes challenges facing dual status youth and highlights strategies to develop a more integrated approach that can lead to better outcomes for youth and communities.
• The Citizens for Juvenile Justice report, “Missed Opportunities: Preventing Youth in the Child Welfare System from Entering the Juvenile Justice System,” provides recommendations on opportunities to intervene and incorporate different policies and programs that can help to keep youth from becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.

Disparities

• “Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice” discusses race and gender disparities in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and the impact on dual status youth.
• The National Juvenile Justice Network’s Policy Brief, “Child Welfare: Gateway to Juvenile Court for African-American Youth” reviews research findings from an Illinois study finding that the child welfare system is a gateway to the juvenile justice system for African-American youth. This Models for Change Knowledge Brief, “Is There a Link between Child Welfare and Disproportionate Minority Contact in Juvenile Justice?” explores the Illinois study further.
• “Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: A Compendium” explores the racial and ethnic disparities in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and policy reforms to address it.
• The impact of the sexual abuse-to-prison pipeline on gender disparities in the dual status youth population is discussed in “The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story.”

Administration of Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

• The Juvenile Justice Geography, Policy, Practice & Statistics (JJGPS) online resource has a section titled, “Systems Integration,” which provides information and data on how juvenile justice systems integrate with other child and adolescent services systems.
• “A Guide to Legal and Policy Analysis for Systems Integration” provides guidance in identifying and addressing legal and policy issues likely to arise when undertaking system integration efforts to better serve dual status youth.

Federal Initiatives on Dual Status Youth

• Appendix B in “A Guide to Legal and Policy Analysis for Systems Integration” provides a comprehensive summary of federal laws addressing collaboration between systems as well as those addressing the confidentiality of youth records and information sharing.

Cross-System Collaboration

• The Guidebook for Juvenile Justice & Child Welfare System Coordination and Integration, 3^rd and the Dual Status Youth – Technical Assistance Workbook detail the Framework for Dual Status Youth Reform.
• “The Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM), An Abbreviated Guide” and Addressing the Needs of Multi-System Youth: Strengthening the Connection between Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice detail the Crossover Youth Practice Model.
• For additional resources on effective cross-system collaboration, see “General Resources” above, and the following:
  • See the Dual Status Youth Reform page on the RFK National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice webpage for dual status youth initiative site manuals from four jurisdictions.
• The Children’s Partnership’s guide, “Building a Brighter Future for Youth with Dual Status” addresses multi-system changes to create better care and services for dual status youth.

Alternatives to Formal Processing and Detention

• “Reducing the Foster Care Bias in Juvenile Detention Decisions: The Impact of Project Confirm” reports on the foster care bias in detention decision-making and describes how Project Confirm helped to reduce it.
• “Trauma in Dual Status Youth: Putting Things in Perspective” describes the need for trauma-informed assessment and treatment for dual status youth.
• “Issue Brief: Reform the Nation’s Juvenile Justice System” describes federal policy recommendations for improving juvenile justice policies and practices.
• The National Juvenile Justice Network’s “The Truth About Consequences: Studies Point toward Sparing Use of Formal Juvenile Justice System Processing and Incarceration” describes key research findings regarding the harms of formal system processing and incarceration.

Collaborative Court Approaches

• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines sets forth essential elements of effective practice for juvenile delinquency courts.

Permanency/Re-entry Planning

• See the Reentry section of the Juvenile Justice Resource Hub for further resources and comprehensive information on re-entry practices and reforms.
• The Models for Change Issue Brief, “Aftercare Services are Key to Positive Community Adjustment” describes lessons that have emerged from recent studies on best practices for effective youth re-entry.
• The National Institute for Permanent Family Connectedness website provides information on the Family Finding model.
• The “Permanency Roundtable Project: 24-Month Outcome Report” provides information on the results of the permanency roundtable project in Georgia.

Information and Data Sharing

• The Models for Change Information Sharing Toolkit – Second Edition, a joint product of Juvenile Law Center and the RFK National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice, is an interactive website designed to assist jurisdictions in implementing information and data sharing initiatives in support of juvenile justice reform initiatives.
• Juvenile Law Center’s “Protecting Youth from Self-Incrimination when Undergoing Screening, Assessment and Treatment within the Juvenile Justice System,” reviews state statutes to determine what safeguards exist to protect youth from self-incrimination and provides examples of model statutes and court rules.

Youth and Family Engagement

• “Closing the Gap: Cultural Perspectives on Family-Driven Care” discusses the interaction between family involvement and cultural and linguistic competence in behavioral health systems of care.
• See the Mental Health/Resources hub section for more resources on
  Youth and Family Engagement.