SELF ‐Advocacy education for Youth: The Role of Law School Communities in expanding opportunities for System‐Involved Youth

The legal community is uniquely positioned to help youth involved in foster care and juvenile justice systems transition to adulthood by helping them learn to advocate for themselves in pursuing their education and career goals. At leading law schools, students have facilitated the “Getting Beyond the System” ( GBS ) self‐advocacy seminar for at‐risk youth, tapping into law students’ training to promote social justice. This promising innovation helps system‐involved youth acquire advocacy skills, forge relationships with adults in the community, and fulfill their potential to become participating citizens. Keypoints for the Family Court Community Law school communities play a key role in an innovative model of self‐advocacy education that gets at‐risk youth beyond the system in the transition to independence. Lawyers and law students who promote and protect the rights of children can take additional steps to help young people learn to advocate for themselves. Youths from government systems have not usually developed adequate self‐advocacy skills which are necessary in contexts such as education, work and career, housing, healthcare, as a parent. A self‐advocacy education model at leading law schools demonstrates that the legal community can help youths emancipated from foster care and juvenile justice systems take their roles as independent citizens.