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  • Authentic Involvement and Engagement of Youth

Authentic Involvement and Engagement of Youth

As a young person, you should be actively involved in decision-making around your case. Those decisions impact your future, and outcomes are more successful when young people and supportive adults work together as equal partners, also known as authentic engagement.

You should feel empowered to speak up about your needs, especially about how people in your life can support you and the decisions you make that will significantly impact your daily and future life. 

Resources on this page provide generalized information about what it means for you as a young person to be meaningfully and authentically engaged, including specifically about being engaged in case planning and court processes. You can also learn how to become engaged in youth advisory boards.

  Authentic youth engagement

Use these resources to better understand what it means for youth and young adults to be authentically engaged in making meaningful impacts on their lives, families, and communities.

Authentic Youth Engagement
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Provides resources on authentic youth engagement and emerging best practices, including a framework for effectively partnering with young people that reviews how youth engagement benefits young people, why it works, and examples of authentic youth engagement.

Authentically Engaging Youth With Foster Care Experience: Definitions and Recommended Strategies From Youth and Staff
Salazar, Spiers, & Francis (2021)
Journal of Youth Studies, 24(8)
Presents findings from interviews and surveys of professionals and youth on how they define authentic youth engagement and strategies they recommend to engage youth authentically.

Children’s Bureau’s Young Adult Consultant and National Youth in Transition Database Reviewer Programs
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2020))
Provides an overview of two Children’s Bureau programs that are offered to young adults with child welfare experience to provide technical assistance to States on child welfare issues.

Eight Successful Youth Engagement Approaches
Youth.gov
Presents eight approaches that can be used to engage youth, including youth governance, youth boards, youth voice, leadership programs, advocacy, service, and youth organizing.

Empowering Youth to Share Their Voices and Be Heard
Capacity Building Center for States (2019)
Children's Bureau Express, 20(9)
Examines how encouraging youth to share their own opinions on permanency planning and the overall child welfare system can empower them to make decisions about their futures. The article lists several strategies and resources to help child welfare agencies engage young people and empower youth voices.

Engaging Young People in a Virtual World
Youth Collaboratory
Offers information on engaging young people virtually and establishing online safety. The webpage also includes links to additional resources on topics such as mentoring, vulnerability during the COVID-19 crisis, and how to engage young people during difficult times.

How Can Agencies and Organizations Prepare for Authentic Youth Engagement?
Casey Family Programs (2022)
Provides questions for agencies to consider when approaching a new or updating an existing youth engagement effort, including examples of successful power-sharing and engagement efforts.

Menu for Youth Engagement Guide
Capacity Building Center for States (2021)
Offers a guide that explains the importance of engaging young people in practice, peer, and system levels. It also provides guidance on identifying actionable strategies agencies can use to strengthen the role youth play as well as engagement stories from youth.

The Necessity of Authentic Engagement: 5 Ways to Build Connections With Youth Facing Adversity
Rehmert & Powell (2019)
Youth Collaboratory
Discusses engagement with young people facing adversity and why youth engagement is necessary. The article lists ways to build connections with youth facing adversity and offers youth perspectives on each.

Principles for Youth Engagement
Youth.gov
Describes three principles for youth engagement: preparation, support, and opportunity. The webpage also discusses why engaging young people is important and provides benefits for those involved.

What Is Youth Engagement?
Canova (2021)
FosterClub
Shares the experience of a young person with lived expertise on what meaningful engagement—beyond keynote speeches and panels—looks like and how it impacts systems change.

Youth Support Partners
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Provides information to educate and empower youth about their role in planning for their future and encourage youth voice during every phase of service development.

  Involving youth in case and transition planning

Use these resources to understand how best to advocate for yourself as a youth/young adult regarding your plans for permanency as you begin to transition or are transitioning out of foster care.

Authentically Engaging Youth With Foster Care Experience: Definitions and Recommended Strategies From Youth and Staff
Salazar, Spiers, & Pfister (2020)
Journal of Youth Studies, 24(8)
Describes the importance of engaging youth in out-of-home care in case planning, policy advocacy, and practice change. The article reviews conceptualizations of youth engagement, how to engage youth in foster care, strategies for engaging older youth, benefits of authentic youth engagement, and more.

Chapter 9: Planning for the Future Transition to Adulthood and Discharge Planning (PDF - 266 KB)
Juvenile Law Center (2020)
Provides answers to frequently asked questions that youth/young adults may have when preparing to transition out of foster care, including how to be an advocate for their own needs and what’s required by law.

Foster Care Transition Toolkit (PDF - 1,108 KB)
U.S. Department of Education (2016)
Provides a step by step guide that youth can use when transitioning out of foster care and continuing on to postsecondary education and meaningful careers.

FosterClub Transition Toolkit
FosterClub
Provides a customizable guide for youth and young adults preparing to transition out of foster care that includes worksheets, record-keeping tools, detailed maps, and additional resources.

Prioritizing Youth Voice: The Importance of Authentic Youth Engagement in Case Planning
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2021)
Discusses the importance of prioritizing youth voice and how effective and authentic engagement of young people in their own case planning results in better outcomes.

A Trauma-Informed Guide for Working With Youth in Multiple Systems
Fehrenbach, Ford, Olafson, Kisiel, Chang, Kerig, Khumalo, et al. (2022)
Discusses how to approach working with youth involved in multiple systems in a trauma informed way.

Working With Youth to Develop a Transition Plan

Series Title
Bulletins for Professionals
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability
View
Download (PDF - 287KB)
Order (Free)
Year Published
2018
Helps child welfare professionals and others who work with transitioning youth to understand the Federal legislative requirements for transition plans and partner with youth to develop a plan over time and through close youth engagement that builds on their strengths while supporting their needs.

  Involving youth in court processes

Use these resources to better advocate for yourself and your family while involved in court proceedings.

How Adolescent Brain Science Supports Youth Engagement in Court Hearings and Case Planning
American Bar Association Youth Engagement Project (2019)
Child Law Practice Today, January - December
Explores how brain science confirms that meaningfully involving youth in their own case planning and court hearings is important in child welfare cases and leads to more healthy growth and development for the child.

Rights of Students in Foster Care and the Juvenile Justice System (PDF - 373 KB)
Education Law Center (2021)
Provides an overview of the rights regarding maintaining educational stability for youth who are involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

What Do We Know About Virtual Court Hearings?
Casey Family Programs (2020)
Summarizes key considerations for courts moving to virtual hearings to better understand their effectiveness and impact on children and families.

  Youth advisory councils and boards

The following resources are State and national examples of youth advisory boards or councils and ways to best recruit and manage these boards or councils.

California Child Welfare Council
California Health and Human Services Agency
Highlights a council that advises multiple agencies and courts that serve children and youth in California's child welfare system. This council includes former foster youth within its membership.

Councils
Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency (QIC-YE)
Features a council that includes youth currently and formerly in the child welfare system who, in collaboration with QIC-YE, work to ensure that authentic youth voice is integrated in processes and products that QIC-YE produces.

DC Health Youth Advisory Council
Government of the District of Columbia
Presents a youth advisory board in the Washington, DC consisting of 20 young people who work to promote health and leadership building skills among Washington, DC youth.

The National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Policy Council
Provides information on the National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Policy Council, which exists to provide recommendations to Federal agencies on issues that youth and young adults currently and formerly in foster care struggle with.

State Youth Advocacy/Advisory Boards & Foster Care Alumni Associations
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway
Includes contact information for State youth advisory boards and councils, State-based advocacy groups, and foster care alumni associations.

What Are Some Best Practices for Recruiting and Working With Youth Advisory Boards?
Casey Family Programs (2022)
Discusses current best practices that are being used across the country to effectively recruit and work with youth advisory boards to improve outcomes for children and youth in foster care.

Youth M.O.V.E. National
Features an organization that exists to build community and leadership for youth who receive services and supports from mental health agencies who may also be involved in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems.

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Recommendations for Improving Permanency and Well-Being
Administration for Children and Families Youth Engagement Team (2020)
Provides key recommendations from three roundtable discussions with young adults with lived experience in the foster care system about how to support permanency with kin, relational permanency, and successful older youth adoption.

Spotlight On

Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency

Menu for Youth Engagement Guide

Capacity Building Center for States (2021)

Organizations Supporting Youth Involved With Child Welfare
Series Title: Related Organizations Lists
Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway

Methods and Emerging Strategies to Engage People with Lived Experience

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2021)

Related Content

Transition to Adulthood and Independent Living

Extending Out-of-Home Care for Youth Past Age 18

Resources for Youth

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