About
The Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency (QIC-EY) is collaborating with a team of three agencies for the Court Training Development and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to support work between the pilot sites and each site’s court stakeholders:
I. Court Training Development Team
The three organizations described below will be working together to support the QIC-EY in developing engaging content for an online training module on youth engagement for legal professionals. These organizations have decades of experience working with court stakeholders and are national leaders in providing high-quality training and technical assistance. In addition, they have built programs co-designed by experts with lived experience who know firsthand the importance of youth-partnered work.
American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
The ABA Center on Children and the Law promotes access to justice for children and families. The Center is a grant-funded entity within the larger American Bar Association. Its team of 20 attorneys and core staff manage a variety of county, state and national projects unified by two complementary goals: to improve legal representation and to improve the legal systems that impact children and families’ lives. The Center achieves these goals through an integrated set of approaches that emphasize collaboration and coalition building. More information about the ABA Center on Children and the Law can be found at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/ or by contacting Kristin Kelly, Senior Attorney, at Kristin.kelly@americanbar.org.
National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC)
The NACC is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1977, with the mission “to advance the rights, well-being and opportunities of children and families impacted by the child welfare system through high-quality legal representation.” The NACC promotes excellence in legal representation through training and certification, builds community among practitioners through its State Coordinator Program and Children’s Law Office Project networks, and advances justice for children and families through policy reform and implementation. It works in all of these areas in partnership with its National Advisory Council for Children’s Legal Representation (youth board). More information about the NACC can be found at https://www.naccchildlaw.org or by contacting Cristal Ramirez, MS, Youth Engagement Manager, at Cristal.Ramirez@NACCchildlaw.org.
With Lived Experience
With Lived Experience was founded in 2021 by Lily Eagle Colby, Esq. With Lived Experience is aimed at helping those with marginalized lived experiences to connect with each other and to change the systems that impact them. With Lived Experience partners with lawyers, legislators and other decision makers to allow people with lived experience to share feedback and to impact decision-making. Its projects also include social justice career coaching for persons with lived experience of homelessness or in the foster care or mental health system. More information about With Lived Experience can be found at https://www.withlivedexperience.org or by contacting Lily Colby, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, at Lily@WithLivedExperience.org.
II. National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ)
The NCJFCJ is the oldest judicial membership organization in the United States. Its mission is “to provide all judges, courts and related agencies involved with juvenile, family and domestic violence cases with the knowledge and skills to improve the lives of the families and children who seek justice.” The NCJFCJ provides educational programs at the cutting edge, wide-ranging technical assistance and nationally respected research to assist juvenile and family courts. It also offers unique, advanced degree programs for judges and other court professionals in conjunction with the University of Nevada, Reno, and The National Judicial College.
The NCJFCJ is providing strategic support to the QIC-EY to assist in pilot site selection by sharing its expertise and lessons learned in selecting juvenile and family courts to participate as demonstration sites The NCJFCJ will provide guidance to selected sites regarding court practices related to engaging children and will work with the NCJFCJ to develop plans for implementing the QIC-EY court training.
More information about the NCJFCJ can be found at https://www.ncjfcj.org or by contacting Andrew Wachter, MS, Site Manager, at awachter@ncjfcj.org.