Dear TeamChild Community,

This holiday season, we are counting down our top 10 moments of the year! Our first is the release of our report in August on the failures of Washington's Juvenile Rehabilitation facilities and our recommendations for change. 

TeamChild has worked with young people in the juvenile prison system since we began our work. Over the last few years, we have worked alongside our partners at KidsAreKids to raise concerns about the wellbeing of youth in the care of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ (DCYF) Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) facilities. We have continued to push for necessary change across the juvenile prison system, and DCYF has responded with some changes, yet there is so much work left to do alongside youth who remain incarcerated in our state’s juvenile prison system.

In August 2025, we released our annual report outlining the ways in which DCYF-JR is falling short of its promises to reform and its purpose to educate and provide treatment for youth in their care. You can see the full report here. 

In summary, this year we emphasize the following recommendations:

• End dehumanizing practices to address behavioral needs;
• End the process of sanctioning all youth as a group for behavior issues. This is in violation of agency rule and makes youth unsafe;
• Make policies and practices transparent and predictable for youth, youth want structure and accountability, not just for them but for those who work in the system as well;
• Engage in transformative system change: listen to young people, families, and community;
• Increase connection and engagement with families and natural supports, young people should be able to talk to and hug their loved ones; and

• Address educational inequities across the JR system; increase connection to receiving school districts to reduce reentry education barriers.

This report is shared as a way to highlight ongoing problems within JR facilities and offer solutions that will improve the wellbeing of young people who are currently incarcerated. 

We hope you continue follow along as we count down our top 10 of 2025! To support work like this, you can make a donation in support of our work. Thank you for being a part of our community!

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support the work of TeamChild, please respond to this email or call 206.322.2444.