Lack of comprehensive sexual education for youth in foster care has a significant correlation with high pregnancy rates and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, among other negative outcomes. Despite these stark facts, the system has been slow to make meaningful reforms in this arena, but now as attention mounts, there is an increasing will for change. There needs to be consistency for any child who attends schools in the U.S. to receive appropriate sex education, but we know that doesn’t happen for children in foster care. Because of the circumstances that youth in foster care find themselves in they happen to be at a greater risk, and they need extra help. Link to Article
Category Archives: CA&N Resources
Meeting the Needs of Children with an Incarcerated Parent
March 29, 2012, American Bar Association: Acknowledging the significance of the child-parent relationship is the starting point for creating best practices for children. This follow-up article to the previous article, A Voice for the Young Child with an Incarcerated Parent, offers three case studies presented by attorneys/guardians ad litem (GAL) with an accompanying mental-health analysis of each. Link to Article
A Voice for the Young Child with an Incarcerated Parent
January 9, 2012, American Bar Association: “When a parent goes to prison, they never go alone . . . Their children go with them.” This introduction to a video produced by the Children’s Justice Alliance shines light on the often-ignored needs of children with incarcerated parents. It is well documented that adverse childhood experiences, including the incarceration of a household member, are linked to a host of health and social problems.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Brain research of the past three decades concludes that a child’s brain is wired for relationship. All future child development cascades from the quality of the first and most important relationship between parent and child. That relationship exists for good or ill in the absence or the presence of the parent. When children are separated from their parent due to incarceration, their lives are greatly affected by the array of systems surrounding the family, including, at times, the child welfare system. It is important that the child not be overlooked and that the systems surrounding the family recognize the significance of the child-parent relationship. Link to Article
An Introduction to Child Trafficking in the United States
January 9, 2012; American Bar Association: Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery prevalent both domestically and abroad. The crime of child trafficking has recently gained more attention in our society via news reports, celebrity advocacy, and new outreach and advocacy campaigns designed to combat this heinous crime.
The latest government estimates state that approximately 14,500–17,500 men, women, and children are trafficked into the United States each year to perform compelled labor or sexual services, with women and children representing the majority of victims. This figure does not include U.S. citizens, who may also be trafficked. Current estimates suggest up to 100,000 U.S. citizen children are trafficked in the Unites States each year.
In 2000, the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which created new human trafficking crimes and provided protections, services, and benefits for human trafficking victims. While the terms “child trafficking” and “human trafficking” may be new legal terms, the phenomenon of children being commercially sexually exploited or compelled into performing labor or services is not new, even in the United States. Link to Article
Recognizing and Addressing LGBTQ Issues: Conference Summary
July 9, 2012; American Bar Association: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are, unfortunately, overrepresented in the child-welfare system, juvenile-justice system, and homeless population. While involved in these systems or living on the streets, LGBTQ youth experience more harassment, violence, and rejection, and engage in more suicide attempts, than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. The best practices for providing high-quality representation of the unique LGBTQ youth population was discussed during the March 13, 2012, 1.5-hour webinar and telephone conference “Recognizing and Addressing LGBTQ Issues in Your Children’s Law Caseload.” Secondary Link
Report to the Pennsylvania State Roundtable: Father Engagement Workgroup.
Pennsylvania Father Engagement Workgroup. This Report documents the result of an effort in Pennsylvania to engage fathers in the child welfare process. It includes Judicial Bench Cards, a list of barriers and proposed solutions to father engagement, pre and post services assessment tools and an outline for a father’s support group.
The Father Engagement Workgroup was charged with the following tasks:
- Develop a regional cross training to improve father engagement;
- Review ABA bench cards and align them with Pennsylvania protocols to be distributed to judges and hearing officers,
- Identify best practices for father support groups that could be replicated throughout the state;
- Identify barriers and solutions to successfully engaging fathers in the lives of their children who are part if the child welfare system, and
- Develop a strategy to print and distribute an existing Father Engagement brochure. Link to pdf Report