Juvenile Justice Advocates International

08/10/2026

Her brother was being punished by losing his family visits. She did not know what for.

Angela worked the night shift, slept a couple of hours, and went to the detention center anyway. She knew she would not be allowed to see him. She came to learn how to advocate for him.

Family contact is a right. It should never be a punishment. UN standards are clear: it should not be restricted or denied as discipline. And when a decision is made, families need a clear way to question it and get an answer.

This Youth Justice Action Month, we’re asking facilities: Do your disciplinary practices protect family contact? Are decisions explained to young people and their families? Can relatives raise a concern and get a response?

Read Angela’s story: https://www.jjadvocates.org/no-visit-no-answers-one-sister-shows-up/

No Visit, No Answers: One Sister Shows Up by JJAI News | Oct 8, 2026 | News | 0 comments She Couldn’t Visit Her Brother. She Went Anyway. After a night shift and only a couple of hours of sleep, Angela went to a detention center in Costa Rica for an information workshop. She knew she could not see...

07/10/2026

Young people should have a role in shaping the conditions they live in.

Meaningful participation requires a way to bring concerns forward, receive a response, and see how those concerns influence decisions.

The experience shared by Joshua Campbell, Assistant Director at the Office of Juvenile Justice in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, raises an important question: Where does youth input have a place in your facility’s decision-making?

JJAI’s Facility Assessment Resource Hub helps teams examine their practices against standards and identify opportunities to strengthen participation.

This Youth Justice Action Month, we’re highlighting how institutions can make room for young people to help shape change.

Explore the approach:
https://www.jjadvocates.org/assessment/

05/10/2026

Youth justice must make room for families to be present, to be heard, and to help shape change.

In Honduras, a grandmother makes a long journey to visit her grandson in a youth detention center. In Costa Rica, families come together to learn about their rights and organize to defend them.

These experiences show why making a visit possible and strengthening families’ voices are part of the same strategy. Alongside practical tools that help institutions advance alternatives to detention, this work aims to change what young people and families experience every day.

This Youth Justice Action Month, we’re sharing how family connection and participation contribute to youth justice reform.

Read the stories and updates in our October newsletter:

🔗 www.jjadvocates.org/october-2026-update

02/10/2026

Family connection is a right. Detention must be a last resort. Safe conditions are the minimum.

This Youth Justice Action Month, we’re asking institutions to examine the decisions they make every day: Can families visit and have a voice? Are alternatives to detention available? Do facilities examine their conditions and act on what they find?

For JJAI, building a future where young people thrive means working with families and justice institutions to remove barriers to family connection, advance alternatives to detention, and assess facilities to guide concrete improvements.

What will your institution change to give young people a real chance to thrive?

30/09/2026

Can we call a youth facility safe without listening to the young people inside it?

Their experiences and their families’ perspectives matter when assessing how policies translate into daily life.

JJAI’s Facility Assessment Resource Hub brings together standards, training, and practical tools to examine conditions, identify strengths and risks, and guide concrete improvements.

Drawing on our experience supporting assessments across several states, the Hub offers a roadmap to turn findings into action and strengthen accountability for young people’s safety and rights.

Explore the Facility Assessment Resource Hub:

🔗 jjadvocates.org/assessment

25/09/2026

We're hiring, and we'd love our community's help finding the right person.

JJAI is seeking a bilingual English/Spanish Donor Relations & Development Associate based in the Twin Cities.
✓ 20 hours/week
✓ Primarily remote
✓ $26–$30/hour
✓ Permanent part-time position
✓ Fundraising experience welcome, but not required

We're looking for an outgoing, organized relationship-builder who believes in mission-driven work.

Know someone? Please tag them, send them this post, or share the opportunity.

Details: https://www.jjadvocates.org/employment/

23/09/2026

Family engagement cannot depend on whether a family owns a car.

Across Latin America, where a youth detention facility is located can determine whether families are actually able to stay connected.

In this video, JJAI’s Latin America Director, Sarahi Garcia, shares an experience from our work in Honduras: reaching one youth detention facility required more than an hour by car, along difficult roads, with no public transportation available.

This raises a larger question for youth justice systems:

❗ If we recognize family connection as essential to a young person’s development, are we also addressing the practical barriers that determine whether that connection is possible?

Distance, transportation, cost, and facility location can turn family engagement from a right on paper into something much harder to access in practice.

18/09/2026

How do families stay connected when detention facilities are hours away?

Across Latin America, a detention facility's location can directly affect a family's ability to stay connected with a young person.

In this video, JJAI’s Latin America Director, Sarahi Garcia, shares an experience from our work in Honduras, where reaching one youth detention facility required more than an hour by car, with difficult road conditions and no public transportation available.

This raises a larger question for youth justice systems: If we recognize family connection as an important part of a young person's development, are we also addressing the practical barriers that make that connection possible?

Where facilities are located, how families can reach them, and the financial barriers they face all shape whether family engagement can actually happen in practice.

16/09/2026

Family engagement has to be possible in practice, not only in policy.

During our work in Latin America, we spoke with a mother whose journey to visit her son requires seven hours of travel and an overnight stay.

Her experience raises a question that goes beyond one family:

If we expect families to remain involved, how much responsibility should fall on them to overcome barriers related to distance, transportation, cost, work schedules, and access to information?

Making visitation available is one thing. Making it realistically accessible is another.

So what should youth justice systems be responsible for?

Should transportation and distance be considered when designing family engagement policies? What have you seen work in practice?

14/09/2026

A young person’s absence doesn’t affect only them. Mothers, fathers, siblings, the whole family feel it.

Every time we sit down with families in our programs, we’re reminded of the love that remains through difficult times. They remember. They hope. And they keep showing up.

There has to be a better way forward, one that keeps families connected and gives young people the opportunity to move forward.

Meet L.P., a mother who keeps showing up, even when it means starting a seven-hour journey the day before just to spend a day with her son.

💛 Through Restore the Circle, you can make more moments together possible for families like hers.

🔗 jjadvocates.org/restore