Much of our work at the School of Government is focused on creating educational materials for professionals who work in North Carolina’s juvenile court—especially judges and attorneys. We want to share the voices of those who are affected the most – the juveniles. Assistant Professor Jacqui Greene and I are starting a video project to give voice to the experience of juveniles who have been involved in the juvenile justice and/or child welfare systems. This post provides some information on what we hope to do and how to contact us if you or someone you know is interested in participating.

Our goal is to create a video in which young people with a history of juvenile justice or child welfare system involvement describe their personal experience. We hope to create a video that features young people talking about their experience of the court process as well as their experiences accessing services, complying with probation, and being placed out of their homes in a foster care or juvenile justice setting. Participants will be asked to discuss their personal experiences on video and to allow us to edit the various responses that we receive into one master video. The video will be used in our courses for the legal professionals.

Because consent for minors to participate in something like this can be complicated, we are looking for people who are age 18 and over. Our plan is to ask participants to record their videos based on a set of questions and tips on recording that we provide. The recordings can be simply made on a phone. The wonderful IT folks at the School of Government will use the magic of technology to edit the videos we receive into one master video.

If you are age 18 or older and have personal experience with the North Carolina juvenile justice or child welfare system, or both, and you want to talk with us about participating in this project, please complete this interest form. We will get in touch with you to talk more about the project and your potential involvement. If you know someone who might be interested in participating, please pass this opportunity on to them. We are hoping to include a range of voices and experiences.