Young people involved in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems often face significant challenges as they transition to college and career. The Understanding Foster, Juvenile Justice, and Crossover Youth microsite, which draws upon national, state, and local research and data, provides snapshots of the education and workforce outcomes of these populations and explores the challenges they face.
Please click here or on the image above to access the microsite, or peruse the resources below to learn more about this youth population.
Primary AYPF Resources
- Microsite: Understanding Foster, Juvenile Justice, and Crossover Youth
- Graphic: Enhancing Community Supports and Safely Decreasing Congregate Care, Connecticut Department of Child and Family Services Map
- Graphic: Family First Prevention Services Act and Implementation, Virginia Department of Social Services Map
- Video: Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Animated Video
- Policy Brief: Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Improve Educational Services in Juvenile Justice Facilities
- Policy Brief: Social and Emotional Learning and Traditionally Underserved Populations
- Issue Brief: Supporting Pathways to Long-Term Success for Systems-Involved Youth: Lessons Learned
- Fact Sheet: Education and Workforce Related Policies Affecting Systems-Involved Youth
Additional AYPF Resources
Blog Posts
- A Light of Hope: How Schools Can Disrupt Homelessness
- A Cycle of Injustice: How Mass Incarceration Impacts Our Youth
- Strengthening the Child Welfare Workforce
- Moving From Tragedy to Hope
- From Foster Care to College: An Uphill Battle
- Bringing Youth Voice to the Table
- 5 Ways to Better Serve Traditionally Underserved Youth
- Elevating Youth Voice to Foster Change
- When Your Best is Not Enough: Striving For Perfection In An Imperfect Foster Care System
- Can Afterschool Play a Role in Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline?
- In the Age of Twitter, Sound Bites from AYPF’s Recent Capitol Hill Forum
- Shining a Spotlight on Systems-Involved Youth
- Voices from the Field: Getting Systems-involved Youth on a Path to Success
- “Do You See Me?”: Youth Voice to Address Barriers
- Supports Are Essential for Success
- The More You Know…
- What Makes Quality Education Programs? Insights from AYPF’s State Scan of Secured Facilities
- “Nothing About Us, Without Us:” Leveraging Youth Voice for Change-making
- Youth Courts: Empowering Youth Voices One Case at a Time
- 5 Best Practices for Youth in Foster Care Post-ESSA
- What Do the ESSA Proposed Regulations Mean for At-Risk Students?
- 5 Things I Wish I Had Known About Juvenile Justice
- It’s Time to Suspend Out of School Suspensions
- Foster Care Youth Voices: Planning for the Future
- Foster Care Youth Voices: Value of Therapy
- Foster Care Youth Voices: In Pursuit of Education
- Foster Care Youth Voices: Caring Adult Mentors
- Foster Care Youth Voices: An Introduction
- Never Too Late: Investing in Youth Transitioning from Juvenile Justice
- Never Too Late: Transitioning from Juvenile Justice
- From Isolation to Opportunity: Proving Who You Are
- From Isolation to Opportunity: Transportation and Postsecondary Pathways
- 5 Foster Care Resources That You Should Read
- Creating Access to Postsecondary Opportunities for Youth in Transition from Foster Care
Webinars
- Effective Juvenile Justice Reforms in the Era of ESSA
- Improving Education Quality in Juvenile Justice Facilities
- Trends and Opportunities in Accountability for Alternative Education
- Promoting Pathways to Long-Term Success for Systems-Involved Youth
- ESSA and Supporting College and Career Readiness and Success for Youth Experiencing Homelessness
- The Role of Data to Support College and Career Readiness and Success for Students in Foster Care
- Leveraging Youth Voice and Advocacy to Support Pathways to Success
- Reaching Postsecondary Success: Pathways for Youth in Transition from Foster Care
- Social, Emotional, and Physical Well-Being for Youth in Transition from the Foster Care System
- Building Pathways to Postsecondary Education for Youth Involved in the Justice System
- How Research Evidence Informs Foster Youth Medication Policies
Briefs
- Improving Education and Workforce Outcomes for Systems-Involved Youth: Building Consensus around Key Areas of Influence for Policy
- Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Improve Educational Services in Juvenile Justice Facilities
- Social and Emotional Learning and Traditionally Underserved Populations
- Supporting Pathways to Long-Term Success for Systems-Involved Youth: Lessons Learned
- Building Pathways to Postsecondary Success for Vulnerable Populations
- Scaling Effective Practices for Youth Transitioning out of Foster Care
- How Research Evidence Informs Foster Youth Medication Policies
- Examining Strategies to Improve the Use of Research Evidence in Child Welfare
- Creating Access to Opportunities for Youth in Transition from Foster Care: Youth Perspective
- Creating Access to Opportunities for Youth in Transition from Foster Care: State Perspectives
- Creating Post-Secondary Opportunities for Youth in Transition from Foster Care
- Policy and Program Supports for Youth in Transition from Foster Care (Nashville, TN)
- Referrals to Mentoring for Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System
- Youth Court: A National Youth Justice Movement
Other Publications
- Improving Education and Workforce Outcomes of Systems-Involved Youth Discussion Group One-Pager
- Education and Workforce Related Policies Affecting Systems-Involved Youth
- Creating Access to Opportunities for Youth In Transition from Foster Care
- Youth With Disabilities in the Foster Care System: Barriers to Success and Proposed Policy Solutions
- Youth Court: A Community Solution to Embracing At-Risk Youth-A National Update
- Less Cost, More Safety: Guiding Lights for Reform in Juvenile Justice
Additional Partner Resources
Rigged (a choose-your-own-adventure game)
Five million children and youth are cared for by our nation’s social service agencies because they’re experiencing homelessness, foster care placement, incarceration, or other challenges. And all of these young people will also show up in our schools while juggling other competing priorities. Can you put yourself in the shoes of one of these young people? Can you successfully navigate the kinds of circumstances they regularly face, like juggling schoolwork and childcare, preparing for the G.E.D. while employed full-time, or meeting the demands of a probation officer while trying to finish a high school diploma?
Derived from real stories shared by actual students, “Rigged” is a choose-your-own-adventure-style game designed to represent the impossible tradeoffs that pit these young people’s dreams, desires, and responsibilities against the wants and needs of the various adults placed in their lives to support them through difficult transitions. With the goal of high school graduation in mind, you will be asked to complete common tasks or solve plausible problems under the constraints faced by a real student on an authentic timeline. While difficult, it is possible for you to win the game by receiving your high school diploma.
“Rigged” illustrates the various challenges students experience daily and underscores the need for coherent and comprehensive systems that empower students to advocate for themselves and give the adults in their lives the resources they need to serve them well.
Check out Bellwether Education Partners website for more information about the game: https://bellwethereducation.org/publication/rigged
To play the game, please use this link: https://thegameisrigged.org/
