: Photo: Marlene Desautels

Publications

NCYL supports the advocacy of others by providing trainings, technical assistance, and published legal analyses and information.

NCYL publishes Youth Law News, a quarterly legal journal that raises the visibility of children's issues among youth advocates nationwide, and keeps them informed of key policies and new developments in the law.

NCYL also publishes the national Foster Care Reform Litigation Docket, which tracks foster care reform litigation throughout the country. These and our other publications are listed on this page.

New Report Highlights Solutions to California's Child Sex Trafficking Problem

February 28, 2013 — Today the National Center for Youth Law released a new report, "Ending Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California."
Worldwide, human trafficking is a $32 billion industry, involving 100,000 children in the U.S. The FBI has determined that three of the nation's thirteen High Intensity Child Prostitution areas are located in California. Studies estimate that between 50 and 80 percent of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) are or were formally involved with the child welfare system.

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New Report on Lessons Learned from Decades of Child Welfare Reform Litigation

By Bryn Martyna

For 40 years, class action litigation has been used to address difficult and long-standing problems in state and county child welfare systems. A new publication brings together a series of papers authored by 22 top experts to address the factors that make system reform litigation successful.

New Publications!

Arkansas Youth Justice: The Architecture of Reform

NCYL Issues New Report on Mental Health Needs of Incarcerated Youth in Texas

The National Center for Youth Law, Disability Rights Texas, and Texas Appleseed have issued a new report: Thinking Outside the Cell: Alternatives to Incarceration for Youth with Mental Health Needs.

New Report

Improving Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

A Review of Alameda County's Collaborative Mental Health Court

Youth spend less time in detention and are less likely to get in trouble with the law after participating in Alameda county's juvenile mental health court. In this report, NCYL describes the workings of the Alameda County Juvenile Collaborative Court, its participants, and the results the court has seen since being established in 2007.

Foster Care Reform Litigation Docket

The 2010 Foster Care Reform Litigation Docket provides basic information on child welfare reform cases nationwide that are currently in active litigation, a pending settlement agreement, or are significant in some other respect.

Foster Youth Education Initiative Releases Report on Improving Opportunities for Foster Youth

NCYL’s Foster Youth Education Initiative has released its long-awaited report on how California is ensuring foster children receive appropriate educational opportunities.

Most children have parents who monitor their academic progress, attend parent-teacher conferences, enroll them in appropriate classes, and generally ensure they receive a quality education. Their parents serve as their educational advocates.

Foster youth frequently lack such advocates. As a consequence, they often fail to receive the opportunities necessary to succeed in school. This report examines an emerging strategy designed to ensure foster youth receive the opportunities they need: the creation of educational advocacy systems for foster youth.

Download the report.

Foster Ed Connect

Foster Ed Connect is a new website for all people helping children and youth in California's foster care system succeed in school. Join the Community!

"A Call to Stop Child Prosecution"

NCYL Examines Wyoming's Practice of Prosecuting Children as Adults

Unlike any other state in the nation, Wyoming commonly prosecutes children as adults, often imposing adult sentences for normal adolescent misbehavior. The majority of children in trouble with the law in Wyoming are being processed through adult courts, where they become saddled with adult criminal convictions. Children as young as 8 are being criminally prosecuted for such minor offenses as stealing a pack of gum or skateboarding in a restricted area.

NCYL is working with Wyoming advocates, government officials, and others to reform the state's juvenile justice system.

Download the Report.

Juvenile Justice Reform in Arkansas: Building a Better Future for Youth, their Families, and the Community

Improving the Child Welfare Workforce: Lessons Learned from Class Action Litigation

NCYL, in collaboration with Children's Rights Inc. and with support from Cornerstones for Kids conducted a review of efforts to strengthen the child welfare workforce through litigation in 12 jurisdictions across the country.