New Report: Youth Locked Up Instead of Getting Mental Health Help
Many youth in foster care need support for their mental health; too often, they don’t receive the right support and even face reactions that their peers don’t - like having the police called. And - just being in foster care increases a young person’s likelihood of entering juvenile justice.
A concerning bipartisan Congressional report was just released by Senator Ossoff (D-GA) and Rep. Kiggans (R-VA-02) which revealed that many children and youth are imprisoned, sometimes without being charged with a crime, rather than getting the mental health support they need. While this report does not specifically talk about how this impacts youth in foster care, we know from LEx Leaders, that this does. Young people have told us about this:
“It [interaction with law enforcement] was mental health related. I was handcuffed several times and there was no mental health assessment team there to help. They would say I am not under arrest, but I was manic and really scared. The handcuffs were tight.”
- Former Foster Youth from California
“[I felt] inherently criminalized simply due to my status as a foster youth”
- Former Foster Youth from Washington
They’re also doing something about it.
Young people from the National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Policy Council created recommendations for lawmakers and people directly working with young people. Their recommendations focus on providing the right support to youth in foster care rather than relying too much on law enforcement or juvenile justice. Current and former foster youth recommended:
- We aren’t bad children or teens; we’ve lived through bad things. Our caregivers need to understand our personal trauma and how that influences our behaviors.
- Disrupt the foster-care-to-prison-pipeline
- Practical steps to support children and youth’s mental health in foster care
Read the full recommendations on Decriminalize Being in Foster Care and Redefining Mental Health Support in Foster Care.
Share these recommendations with policymakers, child welfare leaders and advocates in your community. Help ensure decision-makers listen to young people.