“Can you hear me now”, the unique experiences of crossover youth in Kansas

System involvement as a child can play a significant role in increasing risk for experiencing negative life outcomes across the lifespan (Baidawi et al., 2024; Bishop et al., 1996; Bridges & Steen, 1998; Cutuli et al., 2016). This occurs at an even higher rate for youth who are involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems at the same time (Moore et al., 2020; Parmenter et al., 2024; Ryan et al., 2008). This study explored the experiences of youth who are currently crossover youth in the state of Kansas. Participants (n = 5) were youth currently in the foster care system with simultaneous juvenile justice cases who participated in semi-structured interviews. Data collected from these interviews was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings from the participants’ narratives were used to identify six themes relating to the participants’ experiences as crossover youth and their interpretations of how the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are operating. Overall, these findings demonstrated that youth were able to articulate how their experiences have been shaped by interactions with both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems as well as make determinations on how the system is functioning based off of their experiences.

Author

• Wren, Alexander Ross

Identifier

hdl:10057/56133

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:soar.wichita.edu:10057/56133