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
Additional Partner Resources
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/
