Children who come to the attention of the juvenile justice system are a challenging and underserved population. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help juvenile justice professionals understand and provide trauma-focused services to these youth. These resources include tools and materials for building skills and increasing knowledge about childhood trauma to help judges, attorneys, law enforcement, probation officers, frontline residential staff, mental health personnel, and caregivers understand and respond to the needs of traumatized children. In addition to the NCTSN resources highlighted below, Justice System Professionals can learn more about creating trauma-informed Justice Systems in the Trauma-Informed Care section of this website.
Presents techniques to use when interviewing children who may have been physically or sexually abused.
Outlines the impact of trauma on children's development, beliefs, and behaviors.
Describes the Child Development Community Policy Program.
Discusses the need for mental health professionals to work in collaboration with judges to create a trauma-informed program to help young children in the court.
Describes the purpose and design of the TARGET model of trauma-focused treatment.
Focuses on creating a trauma-informed law enforcement system.
Summarizes findings from focus groups.
Describes the impact of domestic violence on children. This video provides law enforcement officers with concrete information about what they can do when responding to the scene of a domestic violence call.
Provides links and resources for additional information to support the Cops, KIds, and Domestic Violence training video.
Provides staff in child-serving systems with best practices for trauma screening. The courses will help staff develop a plan for implementing a screening process in their setting, identify and support children suffering from traumatic stress as early as possible, and connect those in need with effective services.
Is a self-rating tool that walks users through each of the competencies in STS cross-disciplinary version.
Explores ways a juvenile justice professional can improve the impact of their work through family partnering, why family partnership is critical to trauma-informed care, and how partnership can improve a juvenile justice professional’s effectiveness and job satisfaction.