Family First Prevention Services Act

As Washington worked this week to craft the latest, long-promised and long-delayed coronavirus relief package, the Harvard School of Public Health and its partners have released a report painting a dire picture of how American households with children are faring financially amid the health and economic crises.

In a recent article in The Imprint, Karen de Sá and Nadra Nittle reviewed arguments for and against universal pediatric screening for adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, in California. They noted that California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris, who has led the push for this plan, recognizes the serious concerns of critics but does not hear alternative proposals from them that might achieve her important goal of reducing toxic stress among children.

As Youth Services Insider mentioned back in July, nobody has done more to track the presence of coronavirus in juvenile settings than The Sentencing Project’s Josh Rovner. His updates on Twitter have slowed from daily to periodic, but he is still combing media coverage, government updates and more to provide a national context that the federal government thus far has not added, at least publicly.

The common image of a probation department is a bland government building where a stern man sits with a clipboard, tapping his watch, waiting for an accused person to show up and explain if they’ve complied with a stay-out-of-trouble plan.

As advocates for community-based alternatives to incarceration and policing, we’re pleased to see how Santa Clara County and some other jurisdictions are acting with surprising speed and resolve to reduce the populations in their juvenile justice facilities, especially for girls and gender expansive youth of color.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on across the country, Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that promised to protect young adults in California’s foster care system during future declared states of emergency, describing it as potentially imprudent and ineffective. 

The families of children in Riverside County juvenile detention went to court Monday seeking reimbursement of millions of dollars in fees their lawyers say were illegally charged. 

The Western Center on Law & Poverty and the National Center for Youth Law, representing the locked-up youths’ families, filed an amended complaint in their existing lawsuit against the county, charging that although Riverside stopped collecting the administrative fees in April, that was not sufficient.

As a kid, Ed Shoemaker liked the outdoors. So when his mother suggested they go camping – putting him in the back of her SUV in the driveway with a blanket, flashlight and a book – he settled in, content.