Bureau of Children’s Justice

Back in 2015, when serving as the attorney general of California, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris decided to make justice for children a priority of her office’s work.

About 7 percent of California’s elementary school students — or 210,000 schoolchildren in the state — were “chronically absent” from school last year, according to California Attorney General Kamala Harris. According to estimates in a report on truancy and chronic absenteeism in the state’s elementary schools, “chronically absent” students missed school at least 10 percent of all school days during the 2015-16 school year.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued guidelines aimed at supporting the educational success of foster youth through improved data sharing. An agreement between the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the California Department of Education and the state’s Bureau of Children’s Justice is designed to promote the increased sharing of secure information between schools and child-welfare agencies in the state.

More than a year after creating the Bureau of Children’s Justice, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced five investigations across the state, including examining how counties report child abuse, excessive force at juvenile detention centers, the actions of school police and school discipline practices for special education students.

The blockbuster Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study has become the fulcrum of a powerful and diverse consortium of interests bent on preventing and addressing childhood trauma. Groups ranging from pediatricians and charitable foundations to politicians have increasingly asked how this growing body of research—which clearly shows how bad events experienced as a youngster can negatively affect adult health—can be applied to policy and practice.

On Feb. 12, California Attorney General Kamala Harris held a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the creation of a “Bureau of Children’s Justice” with goals ranging from reducing truancy and combatting “childhood trauma” to improving the foster care and juvenile justice systems.