The impact of judicial oversight and the judge-youth alliance in a problem-solving court for disconnected foster youth

This study was an exploratory evaluation of a pilot program: Teen Court, a problem-solving court. In 2009, Teen Court was launched in Santa Clara County as an intervention for high-risk and disconnected foster youth who were at-risk of aging out of foster care and into adulthood with little or no support. The goals of the program were aimed at promoting the judge-foster youth relationship and giving older foster youth a more robust voice in the decision-making process. This study utilized a multi-method research design (i.e. archival data analysis, questionnaires, and focus groups) to collect quantitative and qualitative data in an effort to describe this population and measure the impact of increased judicial oversight in terms of the judge-foster youth relationship and the foster youths' perception of the program.;To meet these goals, archival data that was collected by the Teen Court juvenile judge was reviewed and analyzed to describe this population (N= 84); the Working Alliance Inventory was used to measure the judge-foster youth alliance (N=17); and focus groups were used to explore participants' perception of the court's impact and value (N=8). Results established Teen Court participants as a high-risk population and the Teen Court model as being a promising intervention to promote resilience in these youth while they are still in the foster care system.