Solidarity in action: Collaborating with system‐impacted youth to transform the juvenile (in)justice system through YPAR.

The juvenile "justice" system in the United States and the expansion of the carceral state into communities of color are deeply rooted in white supremacy. To challenge these oppressive systems, it is essential for system‐impacted youth to have access to these subjugated histories. We argue that critical youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a powerful tool for providing these youth with the necessary exposure, space, and support to access these histories, develop critical consciousness, and transform their personal pain and experiences into reflection, collaboration, and actions aimed at challenging oppressive systems such as the juvenile legal system. To illustrate this potential, we present an overview of recent YPAR projects in partnership with system‐impacted youth. We underscore the importance of system‐impacted youth in meaningful, non‐tokenistic ways. Concrete recommendations for supporting YPAR projects with system‐impacted youth are provided. Key points for the family court community: The juvenile legal system is an unjust system that disproportionately harms BIPOC youth, their families, and communities.Deficit narratives rooted in personal responsibility and cultural deficit frameworks continue to present system‐impact BIPOC youth, their families, and cultures as the problem rather than underlying social processes such as discrimination and racism.Critical YPAR, emphasizing critical consciousness development and adults sharing power with young people, represents a potentially powerful strategy for meaningfully engaging with system‐impacted youth to effect social justice change.Juvenile justice reformers must move beyond tokenizing youth with lived experiences by involving them in research and other projects from the beginning rather than simply asking them to share their stories or provide feedback.YPAR represents an underutilized strategy for collaborating with system‐impacted youth in meaningful, non‐tokenistic ways to effect social justice change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]