Authentic Youth Engagement

Young peo­ple are the experts in their own lives and should be ful­ly engaged in deci­sion mak­ing that affects them — from lead­ing their own case plan­ning to part­ner­ing with sys­tem lead­ers to improve child wel­fare pol­i­cy and prac­tice. Authen­tic youth engage­ment builds indi­vid­ual lead­er­ship skills, strength­ens mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ships and leads to effec­tive solu­tions. Learn about authen­tic youth engage­ment as a best prac­tice for sys­tems change in child welfare.

Fea­tured Resources:

A Frame­work for Effec­tive­ly Part­ner­ing With Young People
This guide explores authen­tic youth engage­ment, includ­ing how it ben­e­fits young peo­ple, why it works and what it looks like in real life.

Authen­tic Youth Engage­ment: Youth-Adult Partnerships
This paper illus­trates the ben­e­fits to young peo­ple of authen­tic youth engage­ment through youth-adult partnerships.

Real­iz­ing the Pow­er of Youth and Young Adult Voice Through Youth Lead­er­ship Boards
This issue brief describes expe­ri­ences with imple­ment­ing youth lead­er­ship boards and includes the per­spec­tives of young peo­ple and the adults engaged with them.