Decriminalizing the response to foster care involves reevaluating and reforming the way systems interact with families and children in need of support. The primary goal should be to prioritize the well-being of children while minimizing punitive measures for children.
Simply being in foster care increases a young person’s interactions with law enforcement and increases the likelihood of entering the juvenile/criminal justice system. Close to one-fifth of the prison population in the US comprises former foster children (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016) and about 70% of youth who exit foster care as legal adults are arrested at least once by age 26 (Courtney et al. 2011). Juvenile/criminal justice system involvement limits access to resources and opportunities for permanency... We must shift from biased and fear-based punitive systems.
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