Youth Health and Safety Advisory Working Group

The Youth Health and Safety Advisory Working Group is a State of Illinois working group that will generate a centralized document of information and resources for youth, and utilize the expertise of the youth in the group to identify the best ways to get that material to other young people.

• Appointments to the working group will be made on or before August 31, 2022
• Membership includes 24 spots with 10 spots reserved for youth under 18

The working group will identify and provide information and resources related to:

• Health care laws that impact minors, including:
  • What healthcare they can consent to and what info they should expect in the process of accessing care
  • All options counseling: what info they should get and what additional resources they can access
  • Access to counseling generally: including in the areas of family and parenting, mental health, and post pregnancy
  • Insurance access
  • Emancipation
• Family (and other) communication tools: identify and provide resources for tools support and encourage open communication
• Existing and needed resources for youth in the areas of:
  • Education, Housing, Employment, Food Access and Childcare: Issues that reflect the fears and concerns that Judicial Bypass clients raise as potential consequences for disclosing a pregnancy or their decision to have an abortion and issues that reflect the reasons why a young person may not choose to carry a pregnancy to term
    • Education: fear of and/or actual threats by adult family members that college won’t be paid for if they get an abortion or if they become pregnant
    • Housing: fear of and/or actual threats that they will be kicked out of the home because they are pregnant or seeking an abortion
    • Employment: worry about finding a job as a parent
    • Childcare: they are currently a parent and they are not able to parent and additional child because they don’t have the resources, or another may make it more difficult.
    • Food Access
    • Prevention of trafficking

Share your interest by emailing advocacy@aclu-il.org.