Youth Probation Experiences and Solutions

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion host­ed a free webi­nar on what is and isn’t work­ing in youth pro­ba­tion accord­ing to young peo­ple and fam­i­lies who have expe­ri­enced it. The one-hour ses­sion is geared toward youth jus­tice prac­ti­tion­ers, advo­cates and pol­i­cy mak­ers and will deliv­er find­ings and rec­om­men­da­tions from the Pro­ba­tion Expe­ri­ence Project.

Atten­dees learned about the expe­ri­ences of young peo­ple on pro­ba­tion and their fam­i­lies. Too often, these per­spec­tives are over­looked dur­ing dis­cus­sions of trans­form­ing youth pro­ba­tion pol­i­cy and prac­tice. The webi­nar addressed:

• gaps between actu­al expe­ri­ence and best prac­tices; and
• solu­tions to help trans­form pro­ba­tion for young people.

The Pro­ba­tion Expe­ri­ence Project is an effort of Child Trends, the Casey Foun­da­tion and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions in six states. The local orga­ni­za­tions hired young peo­ple with pro­ba­tion expe­ri­ence to con­duct 22 focus groups and sur­vey more than 100 young peo­ple and fam­i­lies who have expe­ri­enced probation.

Pan­elists

• Aazia-Marie Ross, Young Lead­ers Net­work (mod­er­a­tor)
• Mahirym Arroyo, Cam­den Coun­ty Fam­i­ly Sup­port Orga­ni­za­tion (New Jersey)
• Yohara Ayala, Com­mu­ni­ty Action Board of San­ta Cruz Coun­ty, Inc. (Cal­i­for­nia)
• Dante Bris­tow, Prog­e­ny of Des­ti­na­tion Inno­va­tion (Kansas)
• Yári­da Estra­da, La Plazi­ta Insti­tute and Albu­querque Jus­tice for Youth Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lab­o­ra­tive (New Mexico)
• LaKeisha Woods, VOIC­ES (Indi­ana)