PROBLEM
The ABA will build on its past work as a partner in “Partners in Program Planning for Adolescent Health.” The ABA project staff recognizes that if we are to improve the health and well-being of youth, we must eliminate barriers that limit their access to quality, comprehensive health care, including mental health and dental care. We must further refine our solutions to address payment for services, accessibility of quality services, school-based health care, parenting support, and the unique needs of special populations, such as adolescents, youth in out-of-home care, and young people with chronic disease and disabilities.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
The goals of this project are to: 1) Promote adolescent health initiatives, positive youth development, and inter-professional collaboration within the legal profession through coordination and mobilization of ABA staff and members, including state and local bar associations, ABA-affiliated organizations, and other key legal and judicial organizations; 2) Collaborate with other national professional membership organizations designated by the MCHB/OAH to promote adolescent health and positive youth development, and 3) Provide technical assistance on adolescent health law to MCHB staff, its grantees, adolescent health coordinators, as well as to lawyers, judges, law professors and others.
ABA PIPPAH project staff will continue to support the legal profession as its members work to address the problems stated above. They will inform the bar, policymakers, health professionals, and many others about adolescent health and positive youth development through educational programming, publications, electronic communication, and other dissemination techniques. The expert input of the interprofessional collaboration will facilitate these efforts.
METHODOLOGY
The ABA PIPPAH project will implement the above-stated goals and objectives by: a) maintaining a staff infrastructure within the ABA that ensures that ABA leadership and others are aware of adolescent concerns, including staffing a Child and Adolescent Health Law Program at the ABA Center on Children and the Law; b) maintaining an inter-entity project advisory group comprised of ABA staff and members interested in family and youth issues who can promote adolescent health and positive youth development activities; c) disseminating a guide for judges on adolescent health and developing a judicial training curriculum on adolescent health; d) publishing adolescent health-related articles in the ABA Child Law Practice and other national publications; e) disseminating educational materials via the ABA’s website; f) coordinating adolescent health educational programs at ABA, partner conferences, and other forums; and g) collaborating with the MCHB designated partners by advising the partners on legal issues, attending partner meetings, facilitating the publication of partner articles in ABA publications, and coordinating joint educational programming.
COORDINATION
The ABA PIPPAH project builds on the Association’s past and current cooperative agreements with the MCHB to be a member of the “Partners in Program Planning for Adolescent Health.” The ABA will coordinate with the MCHB and its grantees by sharing relevant legal information pertinent to adolescent health through education programming, publications, oral and written communications, and meetings on the national, state and local levels.
EVALUATION
The ABA will evaluate two major PIPPAH products during the next cooperative agreement cycle. The products are (1) the health chapter of an ABA publication America’s Children Still At Risk, and (2) a book for judges on adolescent health. Through its evaluation protocol, the ABA will measure the following outcomes: the extent to which lawyers and judges who work with youth are familiar with PIPPAH work products; the extent to which PIPPAH work products have been helpful in educating them on adolescent health concerns and positive youth development; and if so, whether this knowledge has made a difference in how they address the health care needs of youth who they represent or judge. The evaluation tools will include mail and telephone survey, testing by sample audiences, and small focus groups.
ANNOTATION
As a Partners in Program Planning for Adolescent Health grantee, the ABA Center on Children and the Law will 1) promote adolescent health initiatives, positive youth development, and inter-professional collaboration within the legal profession through coordination and mobilization of ABA staff and members, ABA-affiliated organizations, and other key legal and judicial organizations; 2) collaborate with other national professional membership organizations to promote adolescent health and positive youth development, and 3) provide technical assistance on adolescent health law to MCHB staff, its grantees, state adolescent health coordinators, as well as to lawyers, judges, law professors and others. This multidisciplinary partnership helps to ensure that legal professionals have access to the expertise of adolescent health practitioners, academics and others who can inform their efforts to promote adolescent health and positive youth development. To implement its proposed goals, the ABA will produce written materials and educational programming that will be broadly disseminated.
KEYWORDS
Access to Health Care; Adolescent Health Programs; Adolescent Nutrition; Adolescents; Advocacy; AIDS; Chronic Illnesses and Disabilities; Foster Care; Foster Children; Health Care Financing; Health Care Reform; Health Promotion; Incarcerated Youth; Legal Issues; Managed Care; Maternal and Child Health Bureau; Medicaid; Mental Health; Multidisciplinary Approach; National Programs; Networking; Professional Education in Adolescent Health; Pregnant Adolescents; Public Policy; Public Private Partnership;
School Health Services; Substance Abuse; Violence Prevention
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