Abolition? Reform?: A Future Research Agenda for Crossover and Dual System Youth

Crossover and dual system youth are young people who find themselves shifting between and in contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Sometimes mistakenly considered a niche population, dual system youth are increasingly being recognized as a substantial portion of youth in child-serving systems. Research suggests that up to two-thirds of youth in the juvenile justice system have had some form of involvement with the child welfare system (Herz & Dierkhising, 2019).This is a conservative estimate given that children may be maltreated and not come to the formal attention of the child welfare system. Additionally, the current state of research recognizes the disproportionate impact on youth of color and additional intersecting identities (e.g., Herz & Ryan, 2008; Irvine & Canfield, 2016; Vidal et al., 2017). Increased recognition of this population has also been accompanied by a growing number of researchers interested in addressing them. To date, the focus has largely been on reforming the existing child welfare and juvenile justice systems to better serve their needs. Yet, with the rise in movements calling for abolition of family regulation and carceral systems, there are concerns that reforms may not be enough to protect crossover youth from state harm (Kelly, 2021). The goal of this roundtable is to provide a forum for such discussions, including what a research agenda for crossover youth would look like from reform and abolition perspectives, what it would take to get there, as well as a dialogue on which approaches are the best to take in the long-term for best serving this population.

To maximize participant benefit, in this roundtable discussion we include practitioner-scholars with varying perspectives and at different stages in their careers who have diverse areas of expertise. The session will begin with setting the context by providing a summary of the above and offer context for thinking of the future by summarizing the history and evolution of research in this area. Next, speakers will briefly discuss their backgrounds and perspectives on the future for crossover youth. One panelist is a mid-career Critical Race Theory scholar with a more quantitative approach to the research. Another is a qualitative researcher who will discuss their expertise on lived experiences and especially how systems cause harm to youth, and particularly Black children and youth. A third speaker will share their expertise on Black girls through an anti-racist lens that conceptualizes how having a dual-status and adultification may impact their identity development. The fourth panelist will provide a practitioner-scholar perspective on the effects of institutionalization on youth and families through a developmental lens.

At the end of the roundtable, participants will be able to describe some of the current issues related to crossover youth, and identify implications for policy, practice, and especially future research in this area as they relate to pursuing a reform and/or abolition agenda.