Youth-serving organizations take on a serious responsibility when they open their doors to children and other vulnerable people. Fulfilling that responsibility well requires two things working together: a safety culture strong enough to prevent harm, and independent investigations credible enough to find the truth when someone alleges mistreatment.
Youth Services Law covers both. Posts examine the legal landscape, practical decisions, and organizational choices that shape how schools, camps, churches, colleges, faith-based groups, and community organizations protect the people in their care and respond when something goes wrong. The goal is the same in every post: precise, useful guidance for child protection and investigations.
According to a study by psychologists and lawyers, up to 1/3 of forensic psychologists don’t use evidence-based protocols for their evaluations. Even more distressing is the finding that lawyers rarely challenge such untested procedures and courts even more rarely exclude the evidence. The researchers noted that their data “suggest that some of the weakest tools…
A nonprofit legal group‘s lawsuit highlights how mandated reporter laws can interact with overbroad abuse registry laws to actively harm children. I don’t know whether the facts of the case will bear out the complaint’s allegations that people are placed on the registry without notice or that the process of being removed from the registry…
A recent review and meta-analysis of mental health literature looked at the relationship between complex trauma and cognitive functioning in children. The results shows a significant decrease in cognitive functioning among children who had suffered complex trauma, and that the decrease happens relatively quickly. It’s not clear how this happens. There are studies showing differences…
A long-standing Title IX lawsuit illustrates the importance of paying attention to every claim from a child, no matter how minor it seems at first. A middle-school student in Fairfax County Public Schools sued the district, claiming that her school administrators did not take her claims of sexual harassment seriously. The case has been hung…
A federal district judge recently issued a preliminary injunction against the University of Idaho law school, preventing it from enforcing a no-contact order it issued against members and the faculty sponsor of the Christian Legal Society chapter at the school. The disagreement started when the law school sponsored a “moment of community” in response to…
The U.S. Department of Education has issued proposed new regulations under Title IX, changing many of the existing rules for K-12 and post-secondary schools. In at least one respect, however, the new rules may force schools into choosing between losing funding and violating the First Amendment. The rules would require affected schools to address “unwelcome sex-based…
One universal component of child protection policies is some level of education for the children themselves. Most off-the-shelf policies have a child education component, and abuse prevention advocates love these programs. The underlying rationale is that by teaching children how to protect themselves, we can empower them to resist grooming and actual abuse. Also, the…
A recent study indicates that asking children to talk about “the first time” or “the last time” that something happened may confuse them. According to the study, children ages 6-9 tend to think that questions about the first/last/most recent “time” makes them think that adults are asking about the specific date or time rather than…
New York governor Kathy Hochul has signed a bill designed to give adult survivors of abuse the right to file suit, regardless of how long ago the statue of limitations expired. The statute will be in effect for one year, beginning six months from the date that the governor signed the bill. It is patterned…
A teacher cannot be disciplined for refusing to conceal from parents the preferred names and pronouns that their children adopt at school, according to a recent injunction from the federal district court in Kansas. A teacher challenged the school district’s policies of (1) requiring teachers to adopt a student’s preferred names and pronouns, and (2)…