Using Storytelling to Achieve a Better Sequel to Foster Care than Delinquency

Lisa Beth Greenfield Pearl

Credit: Street Photography by Tomasz Kulbowski. Creative Commons License.

California’s child welfare system is failing its mandate to serve its neediest children. A significant portion of the 60,000 foster children that California cares for are dually involved with the dependency and delinquency systems. Children who have suffered abuse or neglect severe enough to be removed from their homes are more likely than well-treated children to come into contact with the delinquency system and possibly lose their dependency status in favor of delinquency status. For the young person for whom the state has taken on the parenting role under the dependency system, the blow of delinquency status is significant because of the resulting loss of the “parent” and the concordant services and rights that the “parent” has afforded. This article advocates that we use applied legal storytelling principles to direct more attention to the foster child’s character, voice, and viewpoint to allow formal, earlier intervention at the phase where the child is at risk of delinquent behavior so that delinquency has a better chance at being avoided. By invoking applied legal storytelling concepts to focus child welfare advocates on children’s unique narratives, this article suggests that we consider a new framework to help solve the present foster care-to-delinquency cycle to better serve foster young people and their communities.

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Lisa G. Pearl

Professor of Legal Writing, University of San Diego School of Law

• JD, 1992, Northwestern University
• BA, 1989, University of Michigan

Areas of Expertise

Professor Pearl teaches courses in legal writing and research. She writes in the areas of applied legal storytelling and children’s rights.

Professional Experience

Pearl clerked for the Honorable Elaine E. Bucklo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She practiced intellectual property, ERISA, and general business law litigation at McDermott, Will & Emery. She was a legal writing instructor at DePaul University Law School and an assistant clinical communication and legal reasoning professor at Northwestern University Law School. She joined University of San Diego School of Law in 2004.

Honors and Affiliations

Pearl graduated with high honors from the University of Michigan and cum laude from Northwestern University Law School, where she was a recipient of a Public Interest Law Initiative grant. She recently wrote an amicus curiae brief for USD’s Child Advocacy Institute.

Key Works

Pearl’s publications include “Using Storytelling to Achieve a Better Sequel to Foster Care than Delinquency” in 37 New York University Review of Law & Social Change (forthcoming, 2013).

Alex Reed

Alex Reed is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.  His research interests include federal income taxation, employment discrimination, and securities regulation.  Before joining the UGA faculty, Alex was an associate at the law firm of Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lorinda Riley

Lorinda Maile Natsu Mall Riley, a Senior Program Analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, currently researches civil rights and civil liberties issues and develops training for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement.  Lorinda has worked for the Office of Intelligence & Analysis as the National Tribal Liaison and the Departments of the Interior and Transportation as a Regulatory Project Manager.

Prior to joining the federal government, Lorinda practiced Federal Indian Law in Washington, DC.  In 2010 Lorinda completed an SJD in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy from the University of Arizona.  She graduated in 2006 with a JD/MA (American Indian Studies) from the University of Arizona and obtained a BA in Anthropology from University of California, Los Angeles.