How American Government Frames Youth Problems

Ross and Miller examine how concerns about youth are understood and addressed by U.S. governmental agencies. They first argue that the structure of American government, combined with bureaucratic service delivery systems, lead to fragmented and, at times, inconsistent policies concerning youth, including youth caught up in the juvenile justice system. The chapter then describes the issues this fragmentation creates for youth involved in multiple youth-serving systems, and highlights several potentially negative outcomes for youth created by this fragmentation-for example, that youth in foster care who become involved in the juvenile justice system are sent to detention facilities at higher rates than their non-foster peers. A number of solutions to these problems are offered, and the chapter concludes on a hopeful note: that efforts to address service fragmentation are improving the circumstances for some of these system-involved youth.