teenagers

The California legislature has passed a bill that prevents juveniles 15 or younger from being transferred into adult court for any crime, a dramatic turnaround in a state that used to give wide discretion to prosecutors in seeking adult time for youths.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a bill that would enable the state’s juvenile justice system to hold older youths until age 19, a move that advocates hope will lower the number of teens transferred into adult court.

Delaware became the first state in the union to render all forms of child marriage illegal when Gov. John Carney (D) signed a bill this week authored by Rep. Kim Williams (D).

Through the work of Public Counsel and the Alliance for Children’s Rights, pregnant and parenting foster teens have a new resource. The website, teenparent.net, is the first of its kind, covering the specific needs of foster youth making the transition from child to parent.

By Anna Maier New research shows that California teenagers in foster care display a surprising optimism about their future, despite the many challenges they face. “In general young people [aging out of foster care] tend to be pretty optimistic, in that sense I don’t think they differ much from their peers,” said Mark Courtney, Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and director of the CalYOUTH study.

Foster youth approach the age of 18 with serious health and socioeconomic risk factors, but do so with optimism and a sense of support, according to the baseline findings from a five-year study on California youths released late last week.