Using storytelling to achieve better sequel to foster care better than delinquency.

Source: (2013) N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change. 37:353-589.

California’s child welfare system is failing its mandate to serve its neediest
children. A significant portion of the 60,000 foster children that California cares
for are dually involved with the dependency and delinquency systems. Children
who have suffered abuse or neglect severe enough to be removed from their
homes are more likely than well-treated children to come into contact with the
delinquency system and possibly lose their dependency status in favor of
delinquency status. For the young person for whom the state has taken on the
parenting role under the dependency system, the blow of delinquency status is
significant because of the resulting loss of the “parent” and the concordant
services and rights that the “parent” has afforded. This article advocates that we
use applied legal storytelling principles to direct more attention to the foster
child’s character, voice, and viewpoint to allow formal, earlier intervention at the
phase where the child is at risk of delinquent behavior so that delinquency has a
better chance at being avoided. By invoking applied legal storytelling concepts
to focus child welfare advocates on children’s unique narratives, this article
suggests that we consider a new framework to help solve the present foster careto-
delinquency cycle to better serve foster young people and their communities. (author’s abstract)