Today is Children's Grief Awareness Day. How is this relevant to our legal community? Grief, a physiological and psychological response to loss, is often overlooked as a contributor to decision making. Many youth involved in the juvenile justice system have experienced a loss and are grieving. In Chicago, one study found the prevalence of loss due to death to be 88% for detained adolescents, while another in San Diego found the prevalence of loss to be 71.9%. We know that an estimated 5.6 million children in the United States will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18—not including the deaths of caregivers and other loved ones, reasonably suggesting that the number of grieving youth is actually much higher. The many ways that youth respond to loss can influence behaviors that land youth in the juvenile justice system. If we understand the impacts of grief, then we can identify and support grieving youth, particularly those involved in the juvenile justice system.

Philadelphia's Uplift Center for Grieving Children provides free grief support services to youth at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center who can range in age from 10 to 18. As lawyers, we should be aware of and support this important work as one component of a wholistic approach to addressing healthy development of the youth of our city.