Children And Youth Justice Center

Programs: Ccyj manages three projects specific to child welfare system reform: ccyj's family advocacy center opened doors in early 2016. It is a king county based replication of the detroit center for family advocacy which was launched by the university of michigan law school in 2009. The model provides civil legal representation and, if needed, social work services and parent ally supports to families to prevent the unnecessary placement or prolonged stay of children in foster care. The family advocacy center's goals are to keep children safe and stable within their families; minimize the emotional trauma caused by removal and foster care placement; and allow the foster care system to focus its resources on children who need its protection. Using a multi-disciplinary team (two attorneys, a social worker, and a parent ally), the family advocacy center works to keep families together by strengthening a caretaker's ability to provide for a child's safety, stability, and permanence. Since 2016, the family advocacy center has provided legal services to more than 80 families. Executive and staff support for the washington state commission on children in foster care is provided by ccyj. Lawyers fostering independence (lfi) was launched by ccyj in 2008. Lfi is the only civil legal aid program in washington state focused on serving current and former foster youth ages 17-25. Lfi also serves youth who have been or are at risk of becoming homeless. Currently serving king and snohomish counties, lfi connects these young adults with attorneys who provide free legal services to help them reach for their future without being blocked by their past. Lfi volunteer attorneys help youth to address barriers to employment, education, housing stability, and successful parenting. In 2017, lfi provided drop-in legal clinics for youth, training opportunities for volunteer attorneys, and served more than 200 youth.

ccyj manages two projects targeting juvenile justice system reform:suburban king county coordinating council on gangs (skcccg) was convened by ccyj in 2011. The council is a group of high-level decision makers from across suburban king county including county officials, mayors, police chiefs, and school district representatives. The council was designed to break down the systemic and procedural barriers that dissuade cross-system collaboration, coordination, and integration. For the first time in the nation, multi-jurisdictional elected and appointed officials come together to promote a regional solution to the growing problem of youth violence in king county's suburban communities. In 2013, skcccg finalized and adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce gang and group violence, and funding was obtained to advance its implementation. With a mix of public and private funding, implementation of the comprehensive plan continues, and beginning in 2015, includes youth linc, a multidisciplinary intervention team facilitated by ccyj. In 2016, this work was expanded to include the city of seattle. Today, three geographically based youth linc teams provide the infrastructure to coordinate existing community programs that serve shared clients. These teams include representation from law enforcement, school districts, social service providers, employment program staff, street outreach workers, and other community organizations. The youth linc teams accept referrals from probation, school counselors, families, and community organizations and create coordinated service plans for gang/group involved and at-risk young people. Since inception, the youth linc teams have received more than 237 referrals and provided coordinated services for more than 182 youth and young adults across the project region. Skcccg and youth linc also work to increase awareness of gang/group violence and mobilize communities to improve outcomes for youth and families. The washington state becca task force was founded in 2002 to help support schools, courts, and service providers in carrying out the intent and goals of the mandatory school attendance, children in need of services (chins), and at-risk youth (ary) laws, collectively known as the "becca laws. " the task force has been staffed by ccyj since 2008 and provides a forum to foster collaboration between courts, schools, and service providers; facilitate the initiation of research and training on the development and use of proven practice models to meet the needs and ensure success of youth and families in crisis; and lead efforts in washington state to ensure that adequate funding, accountability mechanisms, and efficient and effective processes for carrying out the intent and goals of the becca laws are in place. The becca task force meets monthly to review current research and best practices; examine system outcomes and identify gaps in carrying out the becca laws; identify issues requiring reform of the state's becca laws, policies, and practices; and strategize and coordinate efforts among its members to promote the intent, goals and outcomes of the washington state becca laws. Historically, initiatives and efforts of the task force have been focused primarily on truancy system reform. Recent efforts have increasingly focused on innovations and reforms to the ary and chins laws. Since 2004, the becca task force also has co-hosted an annual conference in collaboration with a juvenile court and/or education partner. Conference attendees learn about current developments in becca-related research, law, and policy; receive information and training on model programs and practices used in washington and nationally; and network with stakeholders and representatives from youth and family serving agencies. The 2017 becca conference saw the highest attendance to date, bringing together system stakeholders from across washington to learn how to better support the success of youth who are chronically absent from school and youth who have experienced trauma.

ccyj manages two projects that combine juvenile justice and child welfare systems reform: project respect was launched in 2011 with a combination of state and private funding. Project respect is a compassionate and consistent research-based statewide response to commercially sexually exploited children (csec) that ensures victims are identified and given protection, not punishment, by providing a model protocol and a training curriculum for first responders. More than 2,200 individuals were trained in 2017 alone. By shifting the relationship between the justice system and exploited children, project respect works to increase the number of csec identified, decrease arrests of victimized youth, reduce the number of youth who are forced to return to prostitution, and increase the prosecution of traffickers. Washington's model protocol is a national model for reducing the further trauma to vulnerable children. By the end of 2017, 11 county/regional based task forces were participating in a statewide, coordinated, and victim-centered response to csec. Four-fifths of washington's residents now live in a region participating in this coordinated response. 2017 also saw the continuation of a statewide data collection effort, which gathers information on the number of csec, how they are exploited, and their demographic information. Washington is one of the only states in the nation to participate in an endeavor of this kind. In 2017, the csec statewide coordinating committee, for which project respect provides staffing support, issued a report on the understanding and implementation of washington's 2010 safe harbor law for csec. Equality was launched by ccyj in 2013 as a multi-phase project aimed at creating lasting systems reform and pathways to healthy stable adulthood for lgbtq youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Equality works to improve treatment of and outcomes for systems involved lgbtq youth. It is the first statewide effort in washington to help lgbtq youth in foster care and the juvenile justice system find safety and support for the unique issues they face. In phase one, equality gathered first-hand accounts from lgbtq system alumni, collected the observations of systems professionals and community-based service providers about their experiences working with lgbtq youth, and conducted extensive reviews of existing research, laws, policies, and practices over 500 individual voices were included. The stories that were shared culminated in the 2015 report, "listening to their voices: enhancing successful outcomes for lgbtq youth in washington state's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. " in 2016, phase two, equality developed the protocol for safe & affirming care, a guide for youth-serving professionals in the foster care and juvenile justice systems to engage and serve lgbtq youth while simultaneously collecting data on their needs, experiences, and outcomes. Equality began pilot implementation of the protocol for safe & affirming care in three sites in 2017, king county juvenile court, spokane county juvenile court, and the spokane office of children's administration. The military youth project seeks to identify and address the needs of youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems in washington state who live in military families. Ccyj began work with this population through military youth roundtables in 2009 and 2010. The initiative was revived in 2017 and is anticipated to continue for three years. The first phase of the project is a research-focused needs assessment that includes a comprehensive literature review, interviews with key civilian and military stakeholders, and a series of focus groups held at military installations. The needs assessment phase is intended to identify key risk factors, service gaps, and successful programming and resiliencies for the military youth population. The second phase of the project will include a statewide summit of military and civilian personnel and the development and implementation of a pilot project.