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March 8, 2024

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Youth Law Center Brief: Pursuing Systems Transformation in Foster Care Through National Advocacy

 

About Youth Law Center’s Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI)
Children who enter the foster care system have had traumatic experiences far different from the experiences of ordinary childhood. They are removed from their parents, homes, and neighborhoods without understanding why or what happens next, losing meaningful connections to siblings and familiar adults. To undo this harm, our Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) believes we must organize the child welfare system around a simple principle: every child deserves excellent parenting every day. How would that system look different from the one we have now? To advance this goal, in 2008, Youth Law Center launched its QPI, a national advocacy strategy focused on building the power of  children, youth, and  families to create systems transformations resulting in quality, effective parenting for children in foster care.

 

Save the Date: Youth Law Center’s Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) National Conference: Teens Are Different: A Research-Based Approach to Adolescents Thriving in Families
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 l 9 am – 2 pm PT / 12 – 5 pm ET
Stay tuned for more details and a link to register for the QPI annual national conference, Teens Are Different: A Research-Based Approach to Adolescents Thriving in Families, taking place on Wednesday, May 22, and featuring adolescent development research experts Adrianna Galván, Ph.D. (UCLA), Andrew Fuligni, Ph.D. (UCLA), and Wendy Grolnik, Ph.D. (Clark University).
Adolescence presents unique opportunities and challenges for child welfare systems. With the right knowledge and tools, we can meet these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities. At this one-day conference, leaders in adolescent development will share their research demonstrating why it’s essential for teens to be in families and effective strategies to allow them to thrive there. By understanding and addressing this developmental research and incorporating it into policy and practice, we can create systems that provide every teen with the opportunity to thrive into adulthood.

 

Youth Law Center in the News
Our work has been featured in
The Imprint: On our voting rights advocacy efforts in support of system-impacted youth of voting age. Click here to read.
The Commercial Appeal: On our advocacy work in Tennessee, in partnership with Disability Rights Tennessee, to ensure children and youth in the state’s juvenile justice system have access to family, community, and the supports they need to thrive. Click here to read.
The Washington Post and the National Press Foundation: On our advocacy work supporting youth in Extended Foster Care and our recently published On the Threshold of Change report. Read The Washington Post piece here and the National Press Foundation piece here.