Children deserve community-based treatment, family support, and second chances — not unnecessary detention or family separation.

Across the United States, families are discovering how quickly children can become entangled in the juvenile justice system after a single mistake. This is especially true for children who are neurodivergent or who already have documented mental health or learning needs.

The juvenile justice system was originally designed to help young people learn from mistakes, receive appropriate treatment, and safely return to their communities. Yet many families are seeing children remain in detention or placed into state custody for extended periods while decisions are made about their future — even when family supervision, counseling, and treatment options already exist.

Young teenagers are still developing emotionally, neurologically, and socially. Research consistently shows that rehabilitation, counseling, and family involvement are far more effective at preventing future problems than detention alone.

In some cases, children who already have mental health diagnoses or treatment plans are removed from ongoing care and placed into detention or diagnostic facilities instead of continuing treatment in supportive environments.

Extended detention and family separation can:

• disrupt education
• interrupt medical and mental health treatment
• increase trauma for young people
• create long-term consequences that follow children into adulthood

Children deserve accountability when mistakes occur. But accountability should be paired with holistic rehabilitation, treatment, and family support.

We call on policymakers and juvenile justice leaders to:

1. Prioritize family placement and community-based supervision whenever it is safe and appropriate.
2. Ensure mental health and neurological needs are fully considered before detention decisions are made.
3. Avoid unnecessary or duplicative psychological testing when existing diagnoses or evaluations are already available or in progress.
4. Limit the use of detention centers, psychiatric facilities, and foster placements for young teenagers when family support and community-based treatment options exist.
5. Increase transparency and oversight in juvenile detention decisions affecting children.
6. Protect the legal rights of families to remain involved in the care and rehabilitation of their children.
7. Provide access for parents to file Formal Motions with the Clerk of the Court on behalf of their children.
8. Allow parents to drop charges from domestic disputes against their minor children. 

Children are still learning and growing. Their mistakes should be met with guidance, treatment, and opportunities for rehabilitation — not systems that risk defining their future before they have the chance to mature.

Sign this petition to support reforms that protect children, strengthen families, and ensure that the juvenile justice system remains focused on rehabilitation — not unnecessary incarceration or family separation.