New ABA Tools Help Engage Young People in Court Hearings, Case Planning

The Amer­i­can Bar Asso­ci­a­tion recent­ly released a set of tools — devel­oped with fund­ing from the Casey Foun­da­tion — to help judges and lawyers more effec­tive­ly engage young peo­ple in fos­ter care in court hear­ings and case planning.

Fed­er­al and state laws increas­ing­ly sup­port mean­ing­ful engage­ment of youth in care in deci­sions that impact their lives — a wel­come shift as new­er lessons on ado­les­cent brain devel­op­ment show such involve­ment is crit­i­cal to a young person’s devel­op­ment and growth.

The new tools — which build on the Casey Foundation’s The Road to Adult­hood: Align­ing Child Wel­fare Prac­tice with Ado­les­cent Brain Devel­op­ment and Brain Frames — pro­vide judges and lawyers a roadmap to more effec­tive­ly engag­ing young peo­ple. It also teach­es adults how to lis­ten for and act on the exper­tise of youth, says Leslie Gross, direc­tor of the Foundation’s Jim Casey Youth Oppor­tu­ni­ties Ini­tia­tive®.

“Equip­ping young peo­ple to take a hands-on role in their case plan­ning and court hear­ings helps them to learn crit­i­cal think­ing skills and influ­ence deci­sions that affect their lives,” Gross says. ​“Giv­en the extra­or­di­nary brain growth that sci­ence tells us occurs well into our 20s, these kinds of mean­ing­ful expe­ri­ences can be life-chang­ing as young peo­ple seek to mature into adult­hood and heal from traumas.”

The Bar Association’s tools include:

• How Ado­les­cent Brain Sci­ence Sup­ports Youth Engage­ment in Court Hear­ings and Case Plan­ning pro­vides a basic frame­work of ado­les­cent brain sci­ence and tips for attor­neys and judges to engage youth and sup­port their pos­i­tive development;
• Ado­les­cent Brain Sci­ence Case Sce­nar­ios shows how lawyers and judges can effec­tive­ly com­mu­ni­cate with young people;
• Brain Frames: How Attor­neys Can Engage Youth in Case Plan­ning and Court Hear­ings draws on ado­les­cent brain research to guide child wel­fare prac­ti­tion­ers who inter­act with youth in fos­ter care; and
• Quick Ref­er­ence Guide: Fed­er­al Laws Sup­port­ing Youth in Fos­ter Care Tran­si­tion­ing to Adult­hood high­lights which fed­er­al laws specif­i­cal­ly sup­port the needs of old­er youth in fos­ter care, and those tran­si­tion­ing to adulthood.

View the youth in court tool kit