The Importance of Cross-System Collaboration for Dual Status Youth

Dual Status Youth (DSY), youth who receive supervision from both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, are more vulnerable than youth who are only involved in one of these child-serving systems. Dually-involved youth have more detrimental outcomes in exposure to trauma, homelessness, substance abuse, recidivism, health problems, and protective indicators (factors such as education, peer or family support, employment, and coping skills) than youth who are only involved in one system (Narendorf et al., 2020). It is more common for youth to initially be involved in child welfare and become a part of the juvenile justice system later than vice versa; only about 8% of youth from the juvenile justice system transition to child welfare (Kim et al., 2021). A cross-system collaboration is pivotal to the success of these individuals because it would allow for better communication and engagement between the family and the systems as well as increase the services available to successfully overcome the barriers that DSY face (McMinn et al., 2021). The Lancaster County DSY Initiative will encourage collaboration between the two child-serving systems that would allow for better communication and datasharing, thus ensuring success for DSY. However, for it to be successful, employees and families must be aware of its existence and purpose