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For immediate release
April 22, 2009 |
Washington, D.C. – In partnership with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, Georgetown Public Policy Institute’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform will release a paper titled “Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice” at a symposium to be held on April 23, 2009 at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center.
“The paper and symposium focus on the successes and challenges juvenile justice and child welfare agencies face in preparing youth they serve for a successful adulthood,” said Shay Bilchik, director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and research professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. “We hope both the paper and symposium will offer policymakers, practitioners and advocates solid recommendations to help these youth achieve their potential.”
The paper, co-authored by David Altschuler, principal research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, and Gary Stangler, Leonard Burton and Kent Berkley from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, describes case assessment, case management and other practices implemented in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems that have shown promise in improving outcomes for the transition-age population.
Gary Stangler, executive director of Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, noted that “ We hope that the symposium and paper will help constituents recognize that youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems need the same support as other young adults in order to make their place in the world and how to better provide those supports.”
The paper highlights innovations and improvements in policy that have positioned the child welfare and juvenile justice agencies to provide effective, individualized and developmentally appropriate services to older youth and their families. Further, it analyzes how best practices from one agency may be implemented in another, and applies current research and evaluation in its recommendations for further reforms that will help public agencies prepare at-risk youth for a successful future.
The invitation-only symposium will include a panel discussion with the authors as well as a presentation on communities doing promising work with transition-age youth; an examination of cross-systems initiatives to address transition-age youth, and a policy panel. The paper will be available on the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform’s Web site at http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/.
The paper and symposium are made possible through support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Child, Adolescent and Family Branch at the Center for Mental Health Services in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, DC, Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.
