We implement policy advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels. Our work includes policy development, lobbying, coalition building, and community organizing.
Browse Laws & Policy
Reducing Unequal Access to Mental Health Services (2023)
AB 665 (Carrillo)
All children in California deserve access to mental health services to live full and thriving lives, and care for their emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing.
Youth deserve care and support, not surveillance and confinement. Our responses to young people should emphasize positive youth development approaches over punitive measures and incarceration.
AB 1497 (Haney) is a law intended to expand protections and remedies for is a crucial bill in California aimed at ensuring that all survivors of intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and sexual other forms of violence including those charged and convicted of violent felonies. Protections and remedies would include an affirmative defense and can petition the court for vacatur relief. Bill was held in an Appropriations Committee.
Every year, justice-involved young people in Michigan and their families are thrown into significant debt due to excessive court fines and fees levied upon them as they move through the juvenile justice system. These costs do not improve public safety and may actually harm the child's future by putting them increasing financial stress or keeping them under court supervision for a longer period of time.
California's 2022 Youth Bill of Rights legislation would ensure that youth who are incarcerated know their rights and are informed of the newly-established state ombudsperson office. With the closure of California's state-run prisons, there is an urgent need to reassert these rights for youth and ensure youth understand their rights.
Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Protections Act (2021)
AB 1140 (Rivas)
AB 1140 clarifies the responsibilities of the California Office of the Foster Care Ombudsperson, and their jurisdiction, to provide oversight of unaccompanied immigrant children held in state-licensed Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities.
