A report summarizing experiences and recommendations from tribal leaders and representatives, as well as responses from California probation officers about the challenges and successes of working with Native youth in California’s youth justice system, is now available!Â
Two years ago, the Coalition embarked on a series of tribal listening sessions and surveys of youth justice professionals, in partnership with the Office of Youth and Community Restoration, to understand the challenges and promising practices of how best to support Native youth who become involved in California’s youth justice system. A new report now highlights:
- Culture heals – 93% of probation officer survey respondents agreed that there is an importance for Native youth in the youth justice system to maintain cultural and spiritual connections and practices. To ensure youth can maintain cultural and spiritual connections, tribes need to know where their youth are placed and to be able to assist in providing culturally driven services.
- Tribal recommendations for systems partners’ next steps include:
- Strengthen training for placements, probation officers, and systems partners about the history of tribes in California, Native youth in youth justice, and the importance of tribal connection to healing and rehabilitation.
- Enhance data collection and analysis to improve understanding of the youth justice population.
- Increase community-based support by more robustly including tribes in system development and improvement.
We at California Tribal Families Coalition express our deep gratitude to all the tribal youth, tribal leaders, tribal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) advocates, county probation officers, and subject matter experts including Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy and William Feather, for their time, wisdom and guidance in the development of this report. Thank you for sharing your stories, concerns and insights. We will work hard to honor them through continued tribal collaboration to see the recommendations of this report realized.
