OJJDP Family Listening Sessions: Executive Summary - Office of ...

mentioned the importance of system officials understanding the financial, time, and other
practical constraints families face and working with them to keep lines of communication open.
Zero-tolerance policies in schools were cited as misdirected policies that are unnecessarily
driving more children into the system.
Key Comments/Highlights
• As parents, we needed to be consistent and persistent in asking the court to make sure that
our son was getting all the services and education that were available to him. We understood
that because of our son’s behavioral problems, the education services offered to him were
limited, but we had to fight for everything he got.
• All children learn differently. When a child is acting out, too many professionals jump to the
conclusion that they’re bad kids. I think many youth end up in the juvenile justice system
because they fail in the educational system. [The] mindset is already in place, and as
parents, we have to be more active and be ready for the fight with the school system before
our kids end up in the justice system.
Question 6—Relationship With Child
Did you feel you were able to maintain a meaningful relationship with your child while he
or she was in the juvenile justice system
Most families believed they were able to maintain a meaningful relationship with their children
during their involvement in the juvenile justice system but reported that it required significant
effort on their parts. Family members talked about the importance of developing relationships
with system officials, the challenge of balancing their work life with making the time to be at the
facility, and having to overcome differential treatment based on economic status or race. Family
members thought that parental support mechanisms should be implemented to make family
engagement part of the process. They recommended that parent advocacy groups should be
supported and recognized as partners throughout a youth’s involvement with the juvenile justice
system.
Key Comments/Highlights
• We were part of a parents’ advocacy group, and many of our children were in the same
detention facility. When we would visit our son, we’d see other parents and we’d hug and say
hello. This also helped our children to bond with one another. So many of the children in the
facility had no family members visiting them, and this would make it difficult for my son. If he
shared any information with us, other kids would retaliate. We need to take care of all the
kids in a facility so that they learn to get along with one another. I’m not sure how we do
this, but we need to get to those kids that have no one.