1) Agencies providing housing or supportive services for youth who are homeless or in foster care, those placing youth in foster family homes, and courts should prohibit discrimination and be prohibited from discriminating based on a youth’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

2) Agencies providing housing or supportive services for youth who are homeless or in foster care, those placing youth in foster family homes, courts, attorneys, guardians ad litem, and court-appointed special advocates handling dependency or other legal cases involving the custody and care of youth should recognize the actual, and risk of, harm, violence, and harassment LGBTQ youth face in congregate care facilities and in-home placements and take steps to address and prevent this violence.

3) Agencies providing housing or supportive services for youth who are homeless or in foster care, those placing youth in foster family homes, and courts should conduct LGBTQ sensitivity training for all housing and supportive service staff, foster parents, and professionals handling dependency or other legal cases involving the custody and care of youth.

4) Agencies placing youth in foster family homes, courts, attorneys, guardians ad litem, and court-appointed special advocates handling dependency or other legal cases involving the custody and care of youth should take steps to ensure that LGBTQ youth remain safely and with healthy support in their homes of origin, where possible, and where it is not, that they are placed with LGBTQ-friendly foster families.

1. Mandate the development and implementation of targeted evidence-based programs that provide juvenile, family-focused, and strength-based early intervention and pre-court prevention services and treatment to alleged juvenile status offenders and their families; and
2. Promote the development of gender-responsive programs, treatment, and services for alleged juvenile status offenders.

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association urges Congress to make the availability of federal funds contingent on compliance with the following requirements related to juvenile status offenders:

1. Articulate minimum guidelines with which states, territories, and tribal jurisdictions must comply in implementing early intervention and diversion programs for alleged juvenile status offenders. These programs should be evidence-based, gender-responsive, family and youth-focused and attempt to exhaust voluntary treatment and services to avoid court involvement and out-of-home placement;
2. Expand and support the ability of state, local, territorial, and tribal youth-serving social service agencies to be a timely first responder to situations involving juvenile status offenders and provide effective services and treatment to both alleged and adjudicated juvenile status offenders; and
3. Promote community-based services to alleged and adjudicated status offenders and families in their homes, communities, or in respite, foster, group, or staff-secure settings, if necessary for the protection and safety of the juvenile.

1. Mandate provision of comprehensive post-majority child welfare services to transitioning and former foster youth until age 21 or older, with the option for renewal of support after exit from care;
2. Ensure each transitioning youth has a permanent, significant connection to an appropriate adult;
3. Provide all youth with the ability and right to attend and fully participate in all hearings related to their cases;
4. Mandate a court review hearing and judicial findings specifically setting forth a transition plan before the case of any transitioning youth is legally terminated;
5. Ensure that participation in school and extracurricular activities are actively promoted and ensure a youth’s participation in child welfare case and court activities does not result in academic penalties;
6. Ensure all foster youth are afforded the same rights to and support of educational attainment – including enrollment, educational stability, and school continuity – as homeless youth under federal law;
7. Mandate the maintenance, appropriate sharing, and timely transfer of all necessary education records relating to school progress, attendance and placement by all agencies, including providing a copy of records to transitioning youth;
8. Assist youth with accessing and completing postsecondary education and receiving financial assistance;
9. Ensure availability of a continuum of housing options for transitioning and former foster youth;
10. Assist transitioning and former foster youth in attaining financial health and stability; address barriers to obtaining proper identification, clean credit histories, needed transportation and participation in age-appropriate activities; and
11. Provide educational and vocational assistance and support for all transitioning and former foster youth over age 16 and promote incentives to encourage the employment of current and former foster youth.

1. Amending Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to allow states to be reimbursed for care and services provided to current and former foster youth after their 19th birthday;
2. Providing clear and broad definitions in federal law regarding financial aid pertaining to “ward/dependent of the court” and “emancipation” to ensure that youth may receive financial aid without the requirement of a parental signature or parental income information;
3. Amending Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to cover all children in out-of-home care.
4. Clarifying the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as it pertains to sharing health and education information among agencies, judges and advocates involved with the care and education of and legal proceedings involving foster youth; and
5. Implementing requirements to preserve every foster youth's Social Security Act entitlements and other financial assets for use directly by that youth.

This legislation should:

1. Require licensure of, or otherwise regulate, private residential treatment facilities by defining clearly which programs must comply with the statute and impose minimum legal requirements to operate and maintain them, including standards regarding staff qualifications and residents’ physical and emotional safety, educational, mental health, and other treatment needs.
2. Require government monitoring and enforcement of the operational standards outlined in the statute.
3. Promote the preferred use of appropriate in-home and community-based prevention and intervention programs for at-risk children and youth by requiring enhanced governmental support that provides families with better access to these programs.

1. Challenge teens and young adults to develop a sense of purpose and self-worth;
2. Revitalize urban areas by fostering civic pride and volunteerism; and
3. Join with coalitions to help prevent the erosion of families and communities through drug abuse and related crime and violence.

Be it further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges state, territorial and local bar associations to encourage participation in community service programs by bar members, law firms, and law schools.

• Adherence to unbiased, responsible agenda for research, development and demonstration programs;
• Diversification of training; guarantees of juveniles' right to counsel;
• Improvement of conditions of confinement and a commitment to alternatives to confinement;
• A prohibition on secure confinement of status offenders;
• Elimination of waivers for States which do not comply with the Act's objectives; and
• Strict Congressional oversight of the Act and its implementation.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges the United States Congress to enact legislation amending the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the United States Department of Education to promulgate regulations to ensure that children and youth with disabilities, including both homeless children and youth as well as children and youth who are in public agency custody, have prompt access to appropriate special education and related services.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges the United States Congress and the Department of Education, and state and local education agencies, to

1. Implement recommendations from the 2003 White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth
1. To improve the quality of education for children and youth who are in public agency custody;
2. To establish a federal advocate and interagency committee on the demonstration programs and interagency collaborations on improving school access for these children and youth;
2. Improve "child find", expedited assessments and appropriate special education services for children and youth with disabilities who are homeless or are in public agency custody, both in child welfare and juvenile justice custody, and enhance the prompt assignment of "surrogate parents" (which may include suitable foster parents), where appropriate, appointed under the IDEA to protect the student's educational rights; and
3. Enforce federal law, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §675(1)(c), that encourages child welfare agencies to give adults caring for children and youth in out-of-home settings up-to-date educational records on those in their care, when available, and that encourages each case plan to include names and addresses of educational providers, grade level performance, the school record, and any other relevant education information, and that encourages each case plan takes into account proximity to the school in which the students were enrolled at the time of placement. FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association urges lawyers, judges and leader of the organized bar to seek changes in law, policy, and practice that will help remove the impediments to the uninterrupted educational access of children and youth who are homeless as well as children and youth in residential, foster, and kinship care, and will help assure prompt provision of appropriate education services, including special education services where neede . These legal system professionals should work closely with state and local education agencies to help assure that policies promote, rather than inhibit, such uninterrupted educational access.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association encourages lawyers to support school violence prevention education in schools and community settings by volunteering time after having received any necessary training or contributing resources to promote programs that help prevent violent acts by children through encouraging smart decisions and timely, appropriate resolution of conflict.

That the American Bar Association supports the following principles concerning school discipline:

1. Schools should be safe places for students to learn and develop.
2. In cases involving alleged student misbehavior school officials should exercise sound discretion that is consistent with principles of due process and considers the individual student and the particular circumstances of misconduct; and
3. Alternatives to expulsion or referral for prosecution should be developed that will improve student behavior and school climate without making schools dangerous; and

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association opposes principle, "zero tolerance" policies that mandate either expulsion or referral of students to juvenile or criminal court, without regard to the circumstances or nature of the offense or the students history.

1. Curricula on dispute resolution for all students; and
2. School-based peer mediation programs.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association encourages lawyers, judges, and state and local bar associations to make available legal services to ensure that children with mental or physical disabilities are not deprived of a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, supports inclusion in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or similar legislation provisions that permit individuals to pursue claims through mediation, and supports attorney's fees provisions in federal legislation that help ensure legal assistance for children with disabilities who seek to obtain or continue free appropriate public education.

Be it resolved, that the American Bar Association supports the expansion of the Medicaid program to provide coverage for all children and all pregnant women with family incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

• Grant Programs to help states, territories and localities develop pre- and post- booking diversion programs;
• Prevention, in-jail, in-custody, and community-based treatment programs, including re-entry services to…juveniles with mental or emotional illness or disorders; and
• Effective training for mental health personnel, law enforcement, judges, court and corrections personnel, probation and parole personnel, prosecutors, and defenders.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local and territorial governments to increase funding and financing for public mental health services so that…juveniles with mental health or emotional illness or disorders can obtain the support necessary to enable them to live independently in the community, and to avoid contact with the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local and territorial governments to improve their response to…juveniles with mental or emotional illness or disorders who come into contact with the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems, by developing and promoting programs, policies and laws that would accomplish the following:

1. Improve collaboration among professionals, administrators, and policymakers in the criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health, and substance abuse systems;
2. Provide training on mental illness and co-occurring disorders and the mental health and substance abuse systems to judges, court and corrections personnel, law enforcement, probation and parole personnel, prosecutors, and defenders who deal with …juveniles with mental or emotional illness or disorders;
3. Develop pre- and post-booking programs to divert, where appropriate, juveniles with mental or emotional illness or disorders from the criminal and juvenile justice systems;
4. Ensure that law enforcement, courts, and correctional agencies properly accommodate…juveniles with mental or emotional illness or disorders with whom they come into contact, both as crime victims and as individuals suspected of committing a crime;
5. Assist governments at all levels in developing local solutions to the complex problem of dealing with mental illness in the…juvenile justice systems;
6. Improve federal, state and local policy and practice with respect to access to health and income benefits for persons with mental illness being released from incarceration so that such benefits are available to them immediately upon release without administrative delays; and
7. Collect information and improve research regarding mental illness and individuals with mental illness in the…juvenile justice systems, particularly research on interventions that prevent criminal justice system involvement and reduce recidivism.

1. All dependent youth should be on equal footing with other parties in the dependency proceeding and have the right to quality legal representation, not simply an appointed lay guardian ad litem or lay volunteer advocate with no legal training, acting on their behalf in this court process;
2. Foster youth should be notified of and afforded the opportunity to participate in the proceedings in their own dependency case;
3. States should attract and retain effective, trained, and qualified lawyers in the dependency practice area by:
1. Development and implementation of reasonable compensation for dependency counsel, that isn't tied to the volume of cases or clients a lawyer represents;
2. Establishment of loan forgiveness programs for attorneys who enter or currently practice in this area;
3. Development and implementation of national protocols and standards for reasonable attorney caseloads;
4. Federal and state support for attorney training; and
5. Development, implementation of, and funding for, qualification and training standards for dependency counsel;
4. Greater federal and state resources should be provided for this part of the court system. Policies and resources should be developed to ensure that dependency courts have enhanced and high quality training; outcome-focused data tracking and performance measurement capabilities; stronger case management capacities; and workload measurement tools that enable bench officers to effectively manage cases, meaningfully track children's progress through the system, fully implement federal and state foster care mandates, and implement best practices;
5. Communication and information-sharing barriers that preclude different data networks and the child welfare, judicial, mental health, criminal justice, education, and other systems from sharing information when necessary for the safety, permanency, and well being of abused and neglected children need to be identified and addressed through changes in laws or practice. For example, child welfare agencies and education systems should be able to share information to ensure appropriate care and education for a child while also protecting the privacy of the child and family;
6. Recruitment and long-term retention of committed, qualified, and trained bench officers who oversee the needs of abused and neglected children in dedicated dependency courts should be ensured; efforts should also be made to recognize and underscore the importance of the work done by dependency court judges throughout the country;
7. The Judiciary should, working with bar leadership, facilitate meaningful reforms in, and provide needed support and oversight of, dependency courts, and serve as champions for abused and neglected children in the court system; and
8. Effective collaboration between court and child welfare agency leaders should be established and formalized at a state level to create a vehicle for identifying existing barriers and crafting feasible solutions to meeting the needs of children in foster care.

Be it further resolved that the American Bar Association urges Congress, and the state and territorial legislatures, to maintain commitments for adequate resources, and enact laws and implement policies to increase resources and maintain flexibility in use of those resources, that support the needs of children and families at risk regardless of whether an abused or neglected child is removed from home, and without limiting the protections, support, and rights of children in foster care or their families;

Be it further resolved that state and local Bar Associations are urged to actively support the development and implementation of these laws and policies.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges state and territorial legislatures to permit the extension of jurisdiction of dependency courts over youth transitioning from foster care until age 21, when appropriate, to ensure that youth have access to the court, and to legal and social services through the court, and to fully implement the provisions of the federal Foster Care Independence Act, including implementation of the Medicaid expansion option, and

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association work to ensure that youth transitioning out of foster care have access to competent counsel who can advocate for necessary services and safeguards.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association reaffirms its commitment to legal system reform to help assure safe and permanent homes for abused, neglected, and abandoned children, including the protection of children within their nuclear or extended families, the reunification of families when safe, and quick placement in new, permanent homes, through such options as adoption or guardianship.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association supports enactment of federal and state legislation to study and address barriers to permanency, including adoption, for abused, neglected, and abandoned children.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association favors the establishment within the Department of Justice of an independent office with child welfare expertise that would have an oversight role and ensure that children's interests are respected at all stages of immigration processes and while in immigration custody; and,

Further resolved, that children in immigration custody cannot be released to family members, legal guardians or other appropriate adults and should be housed in culturally-appropriate family-like settings and not detained in facilities with or for juvenile offenders.

1. To respect the rights of all children, in the United States and its territories, including those rights articulated under the United States Constitution and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
2. Not to discriminate against any child based on the child's citizenship or immigration status or the immigration or citizenship status of the child's parents.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association opposes efforts:

1. To restrict or deny any child in the United States equal access to public education, health care, foster care, or social services on the basis of the child's citizenship or immigration status or the immigration or citizenship status of the child's parents; and
(II)
2. to require that persons providing such services verify immigration status.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges respect for the Constitutional rights to due process and civil liberties that apply to all persons in the United States.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges public education agencies, school boards, juvenile courts, and other community agencies to adopt policies that:

1. Urge juvenile courts to create and utilize appropriate diversionary programs or, where necessary, alternative dispositions that educate children on the negative impact of hate and prejudice-motivated behavior
2. Consider the unique circumstances each hate crime or incidence of violence committed by and against children when responding to any such reported act
3. Provide for national, state, local, college/university, and elementary/secondary school data collection on juvenile hate crimes and reported acts of harassment, bullying, or other violence committed by and against children; and
4. Encourage government-funded agencies responsible for residential care settings for children to implement and enforce non-discrimination policies for children in their care and promptly investigate and resolve incidents of harassment, violence or other mistreatment directed toward those children.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges the organized bar, and individuals lawyers, to facilitate tolerance and anti-bias education in school and community settings and to promote programs that respond to hate crimes and prejudice-motivated acts by children.

Further resolved, that the American Bar Association urges educational authorities, law enforcement officials, juvenile courts, and other government agencies to support more effectively adolescent dating awareness programs, domestic violence awareness programs, adolescent victim services, and teen offender intervention programs.

• Domestic laws that regulate the employment of persons under the age of eighteen in a manner consistent with the minimum age standards set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Minimum Age Convention; and
• Laws that eliminate (a) the abduction, trading and selling of persons under the age of eighteen years and (b) the use of such persons to work under conditions that are analogous to slavery.

Be it further resolved, that the American Bar Association pledges itself to promoting the implementation of unified children and family court systems as described in Standard 1.1 of the Standards Relating to Court Organization and Administration and enunciated below, recognizing that the manner of administering these courts may differ among states and jurisdictions.

Be it further resolved, that the American Bar Association endorses the following clarifications and additions to the components of unified children and family courts:

1. Intake processes by which families will be initially assisted and expeditiously directed to the appropriate entity in the court system to meet their needs;
2. Provision and/or integration of comprehensive services and other assistance, as appropriate, for children and families in the courts. Appropriate services can include, but should not be limited to, representation, alternative dispute resolution, guardian ad litem, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, interpreters, and emergency financial and housing assistance. A unified children and family court must have the authority to order other government agencies, e.g., housing authorities, mental health agencies, etc., to provide services to families;
3. Provision and encouragement of "alternative" dispute resolution techniques such as mediation, when appropriate, or where all parties request such an alternative, to resolve family issues. Such techniques are not meant to compromise legal protections and confidentiality and are subject to the development of standards and guidelines;
4. Development and enforcement of time standards for cases involving the custody or out of home placement of children, e.g., foster care placement, adoption, etc., to prevent prolonged uncertainty that may adversely affect family members, particularly young children. To ensure speedy resolution of all cases in the children and family courts, sufficient resources should be provided to allow judges and social workers to devote adequate time to each case, including sufficient support personnel so that judges can devote their time to adjudicating adversarial issues while trained court staff review uncontested decrees, perform case management and so forth;
5. An integrated management information system which includes monitoring, tracking, and coordinating all cases in the division to assure either that one judge be assigned to handle all matters pertaining to one family or that all judges presiding over matters affecting one family are made aware of other pending cases affecting that family and shall coordinate to the greatest extent possible all judicial efforts regarding that family;
6. Assurance that judges and court personnel who work in the children and family court are adequately prepared for and receive on-going training in family court issues including, among other things, domestic violence, child psychology, and the value and methods of alternative dispute resolution; and
7. Adequate oversight of the new court system's performance and outcomes while keeping confidential all information which would tend to identify individual children except if the release of such information is necessary to assure provision of appropriate services for those children.