Letter from Jennifer Rodriguez to Commissioner Sanders appearing as an appendix to final report of CECAMF
Fact Sheet: Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities
Key Findings and Recommendations of the report: Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities
Senate panel examines why California foster system addicted to psychiatric drugs
Article about February 24, 2015 hearing before the Human Services Committee about the over-use of psychotropic medications on foster youth.
Trauma and the Environment of Care in Juvenile Institutions
This article is about trauma and the environment of care – the way detention itself and conditions of confinement affect youth, and some of the things that can be done to mitigate it. This is one of a great series of briefs specifically relating to trauma and youth in the juvenile justice system sponsored by […]
Youth of Color and MHSA Prevention and Early Intervention
Article about why it is critical that the Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Guidelines be written flexibly enough to permit the use of funds for youth who may be past the front door of juvenile justice. Youth of color are particularly at risk of entering juvenile justice for mental health related behavior that is not […]
What Defenders Can Do to Reduce Placement Delay/Placement Failure
National Juvenile Defender Summit handout focusing on youth with serious mental health needs.
Senator Debbie Stabenow’s Amendment re TFC
The Youth Law Center joined with over 35 national child welfare and mental organizations to thank Senator Debbie Stabenow for introducing an amendment to ensure that Medicaid coverage includes Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC.) TFC provides medically necessary, cost effective services to at least 50,000 children with severe mental and behavioral health needs in a community-based […]
Thank You Letter to Senator Debbie Stabenow Re Medicaid Coverage Amendment
The Youth Law Center joined with over 35 national child welfare and mental organizations to thank Senator Debbie Stabenow for introducing an amendment to ensure that Medicaid coverage includes Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC.) TFC provides medically necessary, cost effective services to at least 50,000 children with severe mental and behavioral health needs in a community-based […]
Mental Health Issues in California’s Juvenile Justice System
Youth Law Center’s work on placement delay was cited in this Berkeley Center on Criminal Justice Policy Brief, Mental Health Issues in California’s Juvenile Justice System (May 2010). The Policy Brief discusses a range is issues in serving youth with mental health needs in the California juvenile justice system, including the need for uniform definitions, […]
Willie M. v. Hunt Judgment and Order
Willie M. v. Hunt was a federal civil rights lawsuit that challenged the state’s failure to provide adequate community-based treatment facilities for children labeled ‘violent’ or ‘aggressive.’ Prior to the lawsuit, class members were often warehoused in large mental health institutions and juvenile training schools and deprived of any meaningful treatment. As a result of […]
Willie M. v. Hunt Complaint
Willie M. v. Hunt was a federal civil rights lawsuit that challenged the state’s failure to provide adequate community-based treatment facilities for children labeled ‘violent’ or ‘aggressive.’ Prior to the lawsuit, class members were often warehoused in large mental health institutions and juvenile training schools and deprived of any meaningful treatment. As a result of […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Peremptory Writ of Mandamus
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Statement of Decision
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
Morris v. Harper (Wilber v. Cate) Petition for Writ
This lawsuit was filed in May 2000, challenging the failure of the California Youth Authority (now the Division of Juvenile Justice) to license its inpatient medical and mental health services as required by State law. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Youth Authority was more than four years beyond the date the licensing […]
Incompetent Youth in California Juvenile Justice
This article offers a vehicle for discussion of California juvenile incompetence to stand trial. It begins with an overview of the California juvenile justice system and a profile of youth in juvenile justice, briefly reviews the incompetency laws applying to adults, and then describes existing legal provisions to address juvenile incompetence. It also describes the […]
Improving Access to Medi-Cal for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
This is the final report for a multi-year effort, funded by The California Endowment, to improve Medi-Cal coverage for youth in the California juvenile justice system. The report covers the activities of the project and presents key project findings, recommendations and immediate next steps. The recommendations and immediate next steps, which address both policy and […]
Difficult to Place: Youth with Mental Health Needs in California Juvenile Justice
This report presents the findings of Youth Law Center’s research into placement issues for juvenile justice youth with mental health needs in 10 California counties. The focus of the research was youth with mental health needs who have been ordered by the juvenile court to be placed in a non-secure placement, but who remain incarcerated […]
Mental Health Issues Facing Adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System: Part I – The Lack of Mental Health Resources, Part II – Prosecution of Juveniles as Adults
Part I explores the lack of mental health resources and services for youth in the system, and Part II discusses the mental health impact of increased prosecution of juveniles as adults (and consequent incarceration of youth in adult jails and prisons). For each issue, the scope of the problem is discussed, its components analyzed, and […]
January 12, 2010, Letter to Nancy Pelosi Re: Suspending Rather than Terminating Medicaid
YLC has signed on with other state and national organizations to urge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include in final health care legislation a provision in the House-passed bill (H.R. 3962, §1729) requiring states to suspend—rather than terminate—Medicaid benefits for youth in juvenile facilities. This issue arises out of YLC work on Improving Access to […]