“I didn't Know You were Fighting So Hard for me”: Attorneys' Perceptions of Youth Participation in Child Dependency Proceedings

• Published date: 01 October 2016
• Author: Astraea Augsberger,Vicki Lens,Andrea Hughes
• Date: 01 October 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12244

“I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE FIGHTING SO HARD FOR ME”:

ATTORNEYS’ PERCEPTIONS OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN CHILD

DEPENDENCY PROCEEDINGS

Astraea Augsberger, Vicki Lens, and Andrea Hughes

This study examined attorneys’ perceptions of youth participation in child dependency proceedings. Surveys and semi-

structured interviews were conducted with attorneys who represent adolescents in child dependency proceedings. Three dimen-

sions of participation were identif‌ied: receiving information, providing information, and self-advocacy. Barriers to youth par-

ticipation included individual-level factors, such as the youth or the attorney not wanting the youth to attend, and system-level

factors, such as the scheduling of court hearings, large caseloads, long waits, and cases being adjourned multiple times. Rec-

ommendations for enhancing youth participation in child dependency proceedings are presented.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Attorneys play a critical role in representing adolescent clients’ wishes and interests in child dependency proceedings;

therefore, it is essential to understand how attorneys conceptualize youth participation in court.

There are multiple individual and systemic barriers to adolescent participation in dependency proceedings, including

the adolescent, the attorney, the judge, and court policies and procedures.

In an ef‌fort to enhance adolescent participation in court, attorneys and other court actors should receive specialized

training focused on adolescent development and communicating with adolescents in the legal realm.

Keywords: Adolescents; Child Dependency; Child Welfare; Foster Care Youth; Legal Decision Making; and Youth

Participation.

INTRODUCTION

Not only do young people want to participate in decision making that directly impacts them, it is

their legal right to do so (Checkoway, 2011). However, youth involved in child dependency cases

are not regularly participating in legal proceedings where important decisions are made regarding

their lives (Hughes, 2010). There is limited empirical research focused on the nature and complexity

of youth participation in child dependency proceedings. This study f‌ills a gap in the literature by

examining how attorneys’ conceptualize youth participation and the barriers to meaningful

participation.

DEPENDENCY PROCEEDINGS

Child welfare is the system responsible for addressing the occurrence of child abuse and neglect;

including the removal of children from their parents/legal guardians, placing children into foster

care, supervising children while in foster care, returning children to parents, terminating parental

rights, and planning for adoption. In the United States, the majority of maltreatment cases involve

some form of neglect (79.5%), however, physical and sexual abuse are also signif‌icant problems

(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2015).

Adolescents constitute a large number of children in the foster care system. As of 2013, there

were approximately 402,000 children living in foster care nationally, and nearly half of them were

adolescents between the ages of 11 and 20 years (DHHS, 2014). Adolescents in foster care are

Correspondence: augsberg@bu.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 54 No. 4, October 2016 578–590

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C2016 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts