Hear about the Youth Law Center’s Adolescent Development Project, which brings together researchers, young people and families to address the fundamental mismatch between foster care systems and the needs of adolescents.
The Adolescent Development Project is designed to build consensus about what young people need to advance well being and develop systems solutions that will more effectively meet their needs.
Project participants shared what they have learned so far about aligning the foster care system with the needs of adolescents, including:
A synthesis of research by some of the nation's leading adolescent development researchers, along with findings and recommendations for policy and practice. See the consensus statement recently published in Child and Family Services Review – Consensus Statement on Developmentally Appropriate Policy and Practice for Adolescents in Foster Care;
How lived experts compared the research findings to their own experiences to shape the final consensus that was developed;
Examples of how communities are testing the ideas that emerged from the consensus, and
The tools and training that have been developed to advocate for developmentally informed reforms across the country.
This virtual meeting featured Angela LoBue with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and Jennifer Rodriguez with the Youth Law Center, researchers who played a key role in developing the consensus statement and now working in partnership with communities, and representatives of a community that is testing the application of the research.
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