The importance of participation

I just read an important report by New York City’s Youth Justice Board, which is a group of young people who are charged with researching and assessing key issues of importance to young people in contact with the legal system.  This group of young people assessed the permanency planning process in New York City’s Family Court, and made some key recommendations for improving the system for the young people whose lives are being planned.  Their recommendations are concrete and useful, but more importantly, they reflect a real deficit in the system, which is the role of young people in the process.  These young people rightly point out that they are rarely present — physically, emotionally, or intellectually –in the planning process that actually impacts their lives in such a critical way.  What is striking to me about this report is that these young people point out the kind of chasm that exists between what the system feels is important for young people and what young people think, and the complete lack of input on the part of young people, whose very lives are being determined by this system!  You can access the report on the Youth Justice board’s website.