July 31, 2025 • 23 mins
In this powerful episode of The Shift: Voices of Prevention, host Nathan Fink converses with Leah Schluter and Adrian Amezcua from the Center for Childhood Safety and Wellbeing at the University of Oregon. Together, they share how youth leadership and data partnerships are transforming child- and family-serving systems.
- Leah Schluter brings years of practice and research experience in violence prevention—drawing on her long-standing commitment to centering equity and support rather than surveillance into prevention frameworks csaw.uoregon.edu.
- Adrian Amezcua joins her to explore collaborative projects that elevate youth voices, promote systems change, and turn data into tools for healing and transformation.
Together, Leah and Adrian focus on:
- Preventing child abuse, neglect, and identity-based violence by uplifting youth partnership and shared decision-making;
- Designing data-driven, community-informed pathways to care that prevent harms before they occur;
- Aligning closely with Prevent Child Abuse America’s mission of shifting narratives—from blaming families to building systems grounded in justice, prevention, and belonging.
Why listen?
You’ll walk away with fresh insights on how to embed youth leadership into prevention strategies, use data to foster trust and healing, and rethink what safety means in real-world, community-centered terms.
Tune in to discover how youth-led, data-informed partnerships are paving a new path for prevention.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
This is The Shift Voices of Prevention, a podcast
from Prevent Child Abuse Americawhere we explore bold ideas,
cultural change, and what ittruly means to support children
and families.
Join us to change the narrativeone conversation at a time.
Today's show is brought to youby PCA America's 2025 National
(00:30):
Conference.
Hosted in Portland, Oregon,August 12th through August 14th,
the transformative three-dayconference features three
keynote speakers and more than70 workshops that dive into the
key drivers of change.
From innovative programs andpractices to family-focused
policies, cutting-edge research,and public awareness and
engagement strategies, theconference is designed to push
(00:51):
the field toward upstreamprevention and creating a future
where every child and family canthrive.
To be in the room when changehappens, visit
preventchabuse.org.
Hello and welcome to the ShiftVoices of Prevention, a podcast
by Prevent Child Abuse America.
(01:12):
I'm your host, Nathan Fink, andfor this episode, I'm excited to
welcome Leah Schluter and AdrianAmezqua, both of which are with
the Center for Childhood Safetyand Well-Being at the University
of Oregon, who collaborates withcommunities, youth, family, and
traditionally excluded personsto prevent violence and promote
healing, belonging, and childand youth well-being.
(01:33):
Leah, Adrian, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
Hi, thanks so much for having us today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
It's so good to see you again.
And you'll both be presenting atthe 2025 PCA American National
Conference in Portland.
But for those who don't knowabout the Center for Childhood
Safety and Well-Being, can youtell us a little bit about it
and its work?
SPEAKER_02 (01:52):
You kind of already discussed our mission statement
a little bit and our vision, butprimarily, yes, we do
collaborate with communities inOregon.
We want to make sure youth andfamilies, and especially
traditionally excluded persons,are feeling well represented.
They have belonging and we'repromoting healing.
We primarily conduct our work inthree ways.
(02:13):
So it's usually throughresearch, prevention slash
advocacy, and then communitybuilding.
So in terms of research, we haveour OCAP study, which is
currently being conductedpresently right now.
Um that's the Oregon Child AbusePrevalence Study.
That's where we go across Oregonand we're getting insights from
youth on violence prevention,resilience, and basically
(02:37):
measuring and tracking rates ofchild abuse, neglect, and
identity-based violence.
That uh has kind of like twoelements to it.
That's like a questionnairewhere we go travel to these
schools and we ask them toparticipate, 100% voluntary, and
then focus groups where it'skind of like a conversation
almost like this, where we'reasking youth their perspective
on certain questions allrelating to the same thing,
(02:59):
violence prevention.
I will say I'm super passionateabout that project specifically
because like we are currentlyreviewing some of the statistics
um across Oregon right now, andit could be extremely like
disheartening to see howprevalent abuse is and neglect
is within our own communitiesand our own backyards.
But it's also really inspiringto see it being tracked,
(03:22):
evaluated, and we can find waysto prevent it, create solutions,
and I especially likecollaborating with youth.
Some other things we do is apeace report, where that's
another report where we went andtalked to a bunch of youth
across Lane County on how tosolve um problems that directly
impact them, again, withviolence prevention.
And then we also have otherprograms leaning more towards
(03:46):
the prevention side, like ouryouth advisory council, which is
a group of youth in our programthat provides recommendations,
insights on the youthperspective in all of our work.
Um and we have a bunch of otherprograms.
I could probably take up thewhole time talking about it, but
um, yeah, those are just some ofour programs.
SPEAKER_01 (04:04):
It strikes me that, you know, among your many
projects and programs, thisfocus on leveraging coalition
building and input from youryouth advisory council is
unique.
Why choose youth for an effortto shift the narrative from
intervention to prevention,especially during a time when
(04:26):
our families are facing suchunprecedented challenges?
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
Yeah, you know, there's a motto that
continuously plays in my headwhen I'm thinking about this.
And it's nothing about uswithout us, which has been used
in various human rightsmovements, specifically the
disability rights movement.
But it really speaks toparticipatory decision making
and how we cannot reallyunderstand the depth of an issue
(04:50):
without involving those who itdirectly impacts.
In our minds, this applies toyouth when we're talking about
the prevention of childmaltreatment, because almost
across the board, young peoplemust rely on adults to make
decisions for them, with thehopes that adults are making
decisions that are in the bestinterest of young people.
But that being so, none of usadults right now can speak to
(05:13):
what it's like to be a youngperson in July of 2025.
So we have to recognize that thelived experience of young people
is in and of itself expertise,and that young people are going
to see things that us adultscontinuously miss.
So when we're thinking aboutthis at Seesaw or the Center for
(05:33):
Childhood Safety and Wellbeing,we believe that it's really our
role as adults who have morerights, more privilege in
society to create platforms foryouth to direct the change that
really fits their need and forus to create spaces where youth
are in charge of their ownnarrative.
Because it's not that we justwant youth to be part of this
work, but we really see thatyoung people are essential to
(05:56):
creating the change that we allwant to see.
So really kind of focusing in onhow young people are leading the
way that we move forward.
SPEAKER_02 (06:04):
This question primarily like brings me to the
recommendations from our peacereport.
And these are recommendationsdeveloped by our YAC, our youth.
And there's three in specificwhere we have recommendations
for ways to make youth feel morevalued, ways to support adults
fostering safety and trust withyouth, and impactful solutions
(06:24):
for preventing childmaltreatment in Lane County.
And we did it at the individuallevel, relational level,
community level, and societallevel.
And so what we kind of got fromthis was like this specific
recommendations on ways to makeyouth feel more valued was
really applicable.
And it's um at the individuallevel, we have that we recommend
(06:45):
for adults to actually learnabout youth by spending time
with them instead of assuming orlearning from social media.
We kind of get a lot ofassumptions that way.
We want to assume the best inyouth and not the worst, right?
At the relational level, we wantto respect boundaries, respect
youth's boundaries and setexamples of healthy
relationships, healthy copingskills and emotional management
(07:08):
skills.
We want to set that example.
And then for adultsspecifically, not to victimize
themselves and for them to bevulnerable and open about their
feelings rather than closed off.
And then finally, at thatrelational level, just show a
willingness to learn and beopen-minded.
At the community ororganizational level, we
recommend to have an adequaterepresentation in places like
(07:32):
schools or organizations thatway youth can see themselves
being represented and in theirown work.
And then finally, at thesocietal or policy level, I
really like this one.
The youth really encouraged theidea of lowering the voting age
so that their opinions andvoices can be heard, and then
also allowing youth to beinvolved in policy change in
different ways.
SPEAKER_01 (07:53):
Yeah.
Now, you also talk aboutauthentically centering youth.
And what brings the authenticityto the table when we talk about
bringing youth and their voicesto the table.
SPEAKER_02 (08:06):
So like I think a big thing comes from avoiding
tokenization.
That really comes to mind whenthinking about this, when you're
hearing that question, andgetting feedback from one person
just isn't enough to speak onthe experience of others, right?
It's kind of discrediting thepeople that are supposed to
represent and also puts a lot ofpressure on that individual to
make sure that they representall these people.
(08:27):
And another difference is thatit really lies in the
follow-through.
Many organizations claim tocenter youth by including them
in conversations or featuringtheir voices and reports, but
the decisions and priorities andthe power structure of the
organizations remain the same.
They remain adult-driven.
And it's important to includeyouth from the beginning, from
(08:49):
the creation cycle, and sharethat power and making sure that
their feedback is trulyconsidered and implemented in
the work rather than it justbeing performative to say, like,
you know, to check off the boxthat they did that, you know.
It only further isolates youthfrom their movement or
organization or whatever it maybe.
(09:10):
Um so authentically centeringyouth really goes further.
It means youth impact thatdirectly shapes the decisions,
the resources and policies, andit involves co-creation rather
than consultation, right?
And not just asking what theythink, but building a system
that acts in a way that theysay, basically sharing the
(09:30):
power.
And then also finally justrecognizing that young people
always have something to offer.
They have a differentperspective that definitely
should be incorporated indecisions.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
What's interesting is as you talk about this
change, not only areorganizations perhaps this will
be new for them, but I alsothink that the youths
themselves, this would be a newapproach, but I would assume
there would be some suspicion.
How do you re-engage them thenin a process of designing
(10:02):
systems that have in the pastexcluded them?
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
One of the things that's initially coming up with
for me is just thinking aboutbuilding trust and transparency.
Because I think that there's anexpectation or a mentality that
that trust is instantly going tobe built.
But recognizing that takes a lotof time to establish.
And recognizing that, you know,in our role as adults, it's up
(10:27):
for us to provide information sothat youth have all of the
pieces to participate andactively share their opinions
and kind of provide thatdirection.
The other thing that stands outfor me and that we continuously
talk about at TSAW is, you know,designing spaces for equity and
access.
So recognizing that we may haveto change the way we do things
(10:50):
to facilitate youth involvement.
So that means that we might haveto provide transportation or
Wi-Fi access or a device orsomething so that youth can
actually show up and engage.
It means recognizing that livedexperience as expertise and
compensating accordingly.
So that doesn't necessarily haveto be financial, but that could
(11:12):
be, you know, providing food ina space.
That could mean, you know,creating a safe space for youth
to be able to be together, or itcould be a financial
contribution, but recognizingand really appreciating that
lived experience as expertiseand then creating that safe
space.
One of the things that we do atSeesaw is we have a policy where
we avoid one-on-one adult andyouth interactions so that we
(11:35):
are kind of recognizing thatthat space might be
uncomfortable for youth to stepinto.
So all of those things, youknow, aren't practices that we
normally have in adult spacesand require us to go, you know,
above and beyond to shift thatspace to be comfortable for
youth to step into and activelywant to engage.
SPEAKER_01 (11:56):
And this for me, it's interesting because I have
two young sons, one of which,the older, is now approaching
youth or preteen, come teen era.
And for years, I've been hearingfrom friends and family and the
larger community, you just wait,wait until they become
teenagers.
And there's this kind ofnegative cultural framing that
(12:20):
projects them as a problem thecommunity needs to solve.
So from your research, from thework and the programs that
you're facilitating, talk to mea little bit about this negative
framing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:33):
You know, to put it point blank, it it's adultism,
right?
It does exist.
And young people aresystematically mistreated and
marginalized.
And that's very real.
And, you know, it's ingrained ina lot of our systems and
practices.
There's an activist known as uhJohn Bell who speaks to
adultism.
(12:54):
And one of the things that heshared that really resonates
with our work is that except forprisoners and a few other
institutionalized groups, reallyyoung people are more controlled
than any other society.
So that just, you know, reallyhits home of, you know, young
people don't have a lot ofautonomy over their own
well-being.
And it allows us to place youngpeople as inferior.
(13:17):
So recognizing that that's justso harmful to kind of not give
that voice or that respect tothe young people in our
community.
And it's intergenerationalbecause all of us have been
young people at some point.
And it's hard to embody thebelief that young people today
should receive more respect,more power, more privilege than
we adults received when we weregrowing up.
(13:39):
But it shows up so manydifferent ways.
In Oregon, one of the ways thatit shows up, you know, on a
systemic level is minors underthe age of 14 cannot access a
confidential advocate orsomebody who isn't a mandatory
reporter of child abuse withoutparental permission.
And, you know, no matter whatyour stance is on mandatory
(14:00):
reporting, this shows how youngpeople have less access to
autonomy, to their own narrativeabout their experiences than
adults.
As we're moving towards a spacewhere youth are guiding their
own narrative, we have to kindof reconsider these things and
just question why they are inplace and how do we make them so
they continue to give youthspaces to have their own voice
(14:22):
and create their own narrative.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
So the thing I want to add too is just that, like
Leah mentioned adultism.
This is like a clear example ofhow it shows face and in a lot
of adults' minds, or even inyouth's minds, a lot of youth
reported to us in the peacereport that kind of mentioned
that a lot of adults prioritizelike punitive action rather than
developmental, right?
Instead of working to developyouth and um encourage them and
(14:48):
encourage growth, they focus onhow to punish them to correct
certain behaviors, right?
And so a lot of that comes witha lack of patience for youth.
And that was a recurrent themethat we saw throughout the
report.
I have a quote here from one ofthe youth that shared with us
that says, I wish in mychildhood adults were more
patient with me, as a lot ofadults in my life jumped to
(15:08):
conclusions too quickly insteadof listening and being patient
with me.
This quote shows themarginalization that youth
experience, especially duringthat early development, very
sensitive time that we heardfrom so many youth throughout
the report.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
So I want to know in your work, and you did list out
earlier, but what are some ofthose practicable strategies,
programs, or efforts to embraceour youths in our communities,
processes, and decision making?
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, as Adrienmentioned earlier, we really
think about how we're engagingyouth on multiple levels, right?
So how we're engaging them inconversations about how
individual caretaker educationand supports are created, how we
think about it between adultsand youth and how we're creating
(16:01):
those relationships.
Um, we think about it in termsof, you know, how are youth
actively weighing in on buildingand shaping resources and assets
in their communities, whetherthat be you know, nonprofit
organizations, their schools,groups that they're part of, and
then also, you know, on a largerscale.
So how we're thinking aboutyouth engagement on a policy or
(16:24):
a systems level, how are youthable to directly impact and
provide feedback that's you knowreally authentically heard in
state and local policies, youknow, weighing in on school
board decisions, how they areable to actively impact the
changes that impact children andfamilies across Oregon.
And one of the ways that we'redoing this on a community level
(16:47):
in Lane County is Seesaw is partof the Lane County Violence
Prevention Coalition.
And we have created spaceswithin this coalition where
organizations across the countydoing similar work are coming
together and coming up withsolutions for shared problems
and working to de-silo theresources and supports that
exist in the community.
(17:08):
And every single step of theway, every time this group
meets, we make sure that thereis a space for youth feedback
that drives the direction of thework.
So it really, you know, requiresus to take a step back and
reshape the way that we moveforward to make sure that we're
opening up a space for youth toactively be part of that program
to impact that community levelchange.
SPEAKER_02 (17:30):
And I want to touch on a another piece that you
mentioned on, like you said,tokenizing youth and how it can
be extremely harmful.
It's it can be extremelyfrustrating because you know we
work with a lot of adults.
We see firsthand how adults aretokenizing youth, but also the
youth are reporting that theysee that as well, that they're
(17:50):
experiencing that.
So it's not just like uh fromour perspective, youth are
firsthand sharing that, whichonly adds to the frustration.
You know, tokenizing youth canbe really harmful because it's
not about truly valuing theirvoices, it's about serving like
an adult agenda, you know.
And this just makes me think ofanother quote from our peace
report.
The youth explained thatsometimes I felt like I was the
(18:14):
one chosen to talk because Ihave a great GPA and I'm pretty
okay when it comes to speaking.
So I'm an acceptable version ofa Latina that they would love to
hear from, right?
So it's like picking andchoosing who is quote unquote
acceptable to speak on thebehalf of youth, right?
And so, like I kind of mentionedearlier, it's a discredit to the
(18:35):
people that they're representingbecause their voices aren't
being heard, and it's a lot ofpressure to put on one youth or
a few youth, right?
But in terms of what we do overat Seesaw Strategies, um, we
incorporate our YAC, like Imentioned.
The R Yak isn't just like astage piece, it is a part of our
organization.
(18:55):
They're co-creators in a lot ofour content.
They're the ones who develop therecommendations within our peace
report.
Other great examples are thatthey participate in reviewing
data in our OCAP study, thestatewide study.
They participate in reviewingour questions to ensure that
it's youth friendly.
They also help identifypriorities, things that our
(19:17):
organization should prioritizeand design prevention strategies
throughout our studies.
Uh, we also focus on practicalbarriers for youth.
So that looks like stipends,kind of like Leah mentioned,
providing stipends, providingtransportation and safe spaces
where youth can participate,whether that's virtually with
the like one-on-one spaces orphysically.
(19:40):
And so when you put those piecestogether, uh youth really feel
respected and invested.
And that's where like realchange can start to happen with
the relationship between adultsand youth.
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
Have you been able to witness any changes in the
youth that you have worked withthrough these programs?
And if so, what did it looklike?
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
We actually recently just asked our youth advisory
council members about theirexperience and about how they
are seeing their impact show upin their communities.
And one of the things that youknow really stands out is that
youth aren't just seeing the waythat they show up as enhancing
their own well-being and safety,but they're seeing it in their
(20:24):
peers.
So it they are seeing that theyhave the tools or are able to
kind of direct their peers indirections to provide more
supports.
And again, I think that thatplays into kind of this idea
that preventing childmaltreatment is on the flip side
of fostering child safety andwell-being.
So we see that our youthadvisory council members and you
(20:48):
know the youth that theyinteract with are actively being
able to speak to the resourcesin their community and link
things together as to how theyare actively able to kind of
hold each other and createspaces where that well-being and
that safety has more opportunityto thrive, which is really
(21:09):
exciting.
Um, and we are excited to see itcontinue to grow and be able to
be amplified in the youth thatwe're directly working with and
their peers.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
And another thing that I'm super excited for is
our youth within the YAC arecreating a um video for
preparation of the PCAconference to ensure that we're
representing their voice aswell.
And it is just truly, trulyamazing how well the videos come
together.
It's, you know, it's all theyouth that are speaking.
(21:39):
And it was developed by one ofthe youth in the YAC, which was
super amazing to do.
And they go on to explain on howyouth have a perspective that
adults don't see.
They are in the front linesexperiencing these problems that
youth are experiencing.
And so they can see gaps andproblems that adults overlook.
And I just I'm so excited foreveryone at the PCAA conference
(22:03):
to get a look at that and seetheir voices being heard.
SPEAKER_01 (22:05):
Now, you will be presenting at the 2025 Prevent
Child Abuse America NationalConference.
What can we expect from yourpresentation there?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
Yeah, we're so excited to be there.
And we are really gonna kind ofstart off by sharing some of the
research that really has guidedus in this direction of why
we've really kind of taken onthis stance of centering youth
so deeply in our work.
And then we're gonna share, youknow, kind of how we have
reflected on theserecommendations and what it
(22:35):
looks like currently in LaneCounty and how we're looking to
further build out youth-centeredwork in our prevention work in
Lane County and throughout thestate of Oregon and kind of have
opportunities for groupreflection of, you know, how we
are implementing youthrecommendations in places both
within Oregon and around thecountry.
(22:56):
So we're really excited to havethat conversation with folks to
share kind of what we've learnedand then to hear the vast
knowledge that's going to bepresent in that space as well.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Leah Adrian, I so appreciate you joining the
podcast.
And we will see you in Portland,Oregon, August 12th through
August 14th.
Thank you so much for having us,and thank you for the amazing
conversation.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Thanks so much for having us.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
And you can invite upstream solutions into your
feed by subscribing to the ShiftVoices of Prevention today.
Join us to create an ecosystemwhere children and families live
purposeful and happy lives withhope for the future.
This is The Shift Voices of Prevention, a podcast
from Prevent Child Abuse Americawhere we explore bold ideas,
cultural change, and what ittruly means to support children
and families.
Join us to change the narrativeone conversation at a time.
Today's show is brought to youby PCA America's 2025 National
(00:30):
Conference.
Hosted in Portland, Oregon,August 12th through August 14th,
the transformative three-dayconference features three
keynote speakers and more than70 workshops that dive into the
key drivers of change.
From innovative programs andpractices to family-focused
policies, cutting-edge research,and public awareness and
engagement strategies, theconference is designed to push
(00:51):
the field toward upstreamprevention and creating a future
where every child and family canthrive.
To be in the room when changehappens, visit
preventchabuse.org.
Hello and welcome to the ShiftVoices of Prevention, a podcast
by Prevent Child Abuse America.
(01:12):
I'm your host, Nathan Fink, andfor this episode, I'm excited to
welcome Leah Schluter and AdrianAmezqua, both of which are with
the Center for Childhood Safetyand Well-Being at the University
of Oregon, who collaborates withcommunities, youth, family, and
traditionally excluded personsto prevent violence and promote
healing, belonging, and childand youth well-being.
(01:33):
Leah, Adrian, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
Hi, thanks so much for having us today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
It's so good to see you again.
And you'll both be presenting atthe 2025 PCA American National
Conference in Portland.
But for those who don't knowabout the Center for Childhood
Safety and Well-Being, can youtell us a little bit about it
and its work?
SPEAKER_02 (01:52):
You kind of already discussed our mission statement
a little bit and our vision, butprimarily, yes, we do
collaborate with communities inOregon.
We want to make sure youth andfamilies, and especially
traditionally excluded persons,are feeling well represented.
They have belonging and we'repromoting healing.
We primarily conduct our work inthree ways.
(02:13):
So it's usually throughresearch, prevention slash
advocacy, and then communitybuilding.
So in terms of research, we haveour OCAP study, which is
currently being conductedpresently right now.
Um that's the Oregon Child AbusePrevalence Study.
That's where we go across Oregonand we're getting insights from
youth on violence prevention,resilience, and basically
(02:37):
measuring and tracking rates ofchild abuse, neglect, and
identity-based violence.
That uh has kind of like twoelements to it.
That's like a questionnairewhere we go travel to these
schools and we ask them toparticipate, 100% voluntary, and
then focus groups where it'skind of like a conversation
almost like this, where we'reasking youth their perspective
on certain questions allrelating to the same thing,
(02:59):
violence prevention.
I will say I'm super passionateabout that project specifically
because like we are currentlyreviewing some of the statistics
um across Oregon right now, andit could be extremely like
disheartening to see howprevalent abuse is and neglect
is within our own communitiesand our own backyards.
But it's also really inspiringto see it being tracked,
(03:22):
evaluated, and we can find waysto prevent it, create solutions,
and I especially likecollaborating with youth.
Some other things we do is apeace report, where that's
another report where we went andtalked to a bunch of youth
across Lane County on how tosolve um problems that directly
impact them, again, withviolence prevention.
And then we also have otherprograms leaning more towards
(03:46):
the prevention side, like ouryouth advisory council, which is
a group of youth in our programthat provides recommendations,
insights on the youthperspective in all of our work.
Um and we have a bunch of otherprograms.
I could probably take up thewhole time talking about it, but
um, yeah, those are just some ofour programs.
SPEAKER_01 (04:04):
It strikes me that, you know, among your many
projects and programs, thisfocus on leveraging coalition
building and input from youryouth advisory council is
unique.
Why choose youth for an effortto shift the narrative from
intervention to prevention,especially during a time when
(04:26):
our families are facing suchunprecedented challenges?
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
Yeah, you know, there's a motto that
continuously plays in my headwhen I'm thinking about this.
And it's nothing about uswithout us, which has been used
in various human rightsmovements, specifically the
disability rights movement.
But it really speaks toparticipatory decision making
and how we cannot reallyunderstand the depth of an issue
(04:50):
without involving those who itdirectly impacts.
In our minds, this applies toyouth when we're talking about
the prevention of childmaltreatment, because almost
across the board, young peoplemust rely on adults to make
decisions for them, with thehopes that adults are making
decisions that are in the bestinterest of young people.
But that being so, none of usadults right now can speak to
(05:13):
what it's like to be a youngperson in July of 2025.
So we have to recognize that thelived experience of young people
is in and of itself expertise,and that young people are going
to see things that us adultscontinuously miss.
So when we're thinking aboutthis at Seesaw or the Center for
(05:33):
Childhood Safety and Wellbeing,we believe that it's really our
role as adults who have morerights, more privilege in
society to create platforms foryouth to direct the change that
really fits their need and forus to create spaces where youth
are in charge of their ownnarrative.
Because it's not that we justwant youth to be part of this
work, but we really see thatyoung people are essential to
(05:56):
creating the change that we allwant to see.
So really kind of focusing in onhow young people are leading the
way that we move forward.
SPEAKER_02 (06:04):
This question primarily like brings me to the
recommendations from our peacereport.
And these are recommendationsdeveloped by our YAC, our youth.
And there's three in specificwhere we have recommendations
for ways to make youth feel morevalued, ways to support adults
fostering safety and trust withyouth, and impactful solutions
(06:24):
for preventing childmaltreatment in Lane County.
And we did it at the individuallevel, relational level,
community level, and societallevel.
And so what we kind of got fromthis was like this specific
recommendations on ways to makeyouth feel more valued was
really applicable.
And it's um at the individuallevel, we have that we recommend
(06:45):
for adults to actually learnabout youth by spending time
with them instead of assuming orlearning from social media.
We kind of get a lot ofassumptions that way.
We want to assume the best inyouth and not the worst, right?
At the relational level, we wantto respect boundaries, respect
youth's boundaries and setexamples of healthy
relationships, healthy copingskills and emotional management
(07:08):
skills.
We want to set that example.
And then for adultsspecifically, not to victimize
themselves and for them to bevulnerable and open about their
feelings rather than closed off.
And then finally, at thatrelational level, just show a
willingness to learn and beopen-minded.
At the community ororganizational level, we
recommend to have an adequaterepresentation in places like
(07:32):
schools or organizations thatway youth can see themselves
being represented and in theirown work.
And then finally, at thesocietal or policy level, I
really like this one.
The youth really encouraged theidea of lowering the voting age
so that their opinions andvoices can be heard, and then
also allowing youth to beinvolved in policy change in
different ways.
SPEAKER_01 (07:53):
Yeah.
Now, you also talk aboutauthentically centering youth.
And what brings the authenticityto the table when we talk about
bringing youth and their voicesto the table.
SPEAKER_02 (08:06):
So like I think a big thing comes from avoiding
tokenization.
That really comes to mind whenthinking about this, when you're
hearing that question, andgetting feedback from one person
just isn't enough to speak onthe experience of others, right?
It's kind of discrediting thepeople that are supposed to
represent and also puts a lot ofpressure on that individual to
make sure that they representall these people.
(08:27):
And another difference is thatit really lies in the
follow-through.
Many organizations claim tocenter youth by including them
in conversations or featuringtheir voices and reports, but
the decisions and priorities andthe power structure of the
organizations remain the same.
They remain adult-driven.
And it's important to includeyouth from the beginning, from
(08:49):
the creation cycle, and sharethat power and making sure that
their feedback is trulyconsidered and implemented in
the work rather than it justbeing performative to say, like,
you know, to check off the boxthat they did that, you know.
It only further isolates youthfrom their movement or
organization or whatever it maybe.
(09:10):
Um so authentically centeringyouth really goes further.
It means youth impact thatdirectly shapes the decisions,
the resources and policies, andit involves co-creation rather
than consultation, right?
And not just asking what theythink, but building a system
that acts in a way that theysay, basically sharing the
(09:30):
power.
And then also finally justrecognizing that young people
always have something to offer.
They have a differentperspective that definitely
should be incorporated indecisions.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
What's interesting is as you talk about this
change, not only areorganizations perhaps this will
be new for them, but I alsothink that the youths
themselves, this would be a newapproach, but I would assume
there would be some suspicion.
How do you re-engage them thenin a process of designing
(10:02):
systems that have in the pastexcluded them?
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
One of the things that's initially coming up with
for me is just thinking aboutbuilding trust and transparency.
Because I think that there's anexpectation or a mentality that
that trust is instantly going tobe built.
But recognizing that takes a lotof time to establish.
And recognizing that, you know,in our role as adults, it's up
(10:27):
for us to provide information sothat youth have all of the
pieces to participate andactively share their opinions
and kind of provide thatdirection.
The other thing that stands outfor me and that we continuously
talk about at TSAW is, you know,designing spaces for equity and
access.
So recognizing that we may haveto change the way we do things
(10:50):
to facilitate youth involvement.
So that means that we might haveto provide transportation or
Wi-Fi access or a device orsomething so that youth can
actually show up and engage.
It means recognizing that livedexperience as expertise and
compensating accordingly.
So that doesn't necessarily haveto be financial, but that could
(11:12):
be, you know, providing food ina space.
That could mean, you know,creating a safe space for youth
to be able to be together, or itcould be a financial
contribution, but recognizingand really appreciating that
lived experience as expertiseand then creating that safe
space.
One of the things that we do atSeesaw is we have a policy where
we avoid one-on-one adult andyouth interactions so that we
(11:35):
are kind of recognizing thatthat space might be
uncomfortable for youth to stepinto.
So all of those things, youknow, aren't practices that we
normally have in adult spacesand require us to go, you know,
above and beyond to shift thatspace to be comfortable for
youth to step into and activelywant to engage.
SPEAKER_01 (11:56):
And this for me, it's interesting because I have
two young sons, one of which,the older, is now approaching
youth or preteen, come teen era.
And for years, I've been hearingfrom friends and family and the
larger community, you just wait,wait until they become
teenagers.
And there's this kind ofnegative cultural framing that
(12:20):
projects them as a problem thecommunity needs to solve.
So from your research, from thework and the programs that
you're facilitating, talk to mea little bit about this negative
framing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:33):
You know, to put it point blank, it it's adultism,
right?
It does exist.
And young people aresystematically mistreated and
marginalized.
And that's very real.
And, you know, it's ingrained ina lot of our systems and
practices.
There's an activist known as uhJohn Bell who speaks to
adultism.
(12:54):
And one of the things that heshared that really resonates
with our work is that except forprisoners and a few other
institutionalized groups, reallyyoung people are more controlled
than any other society.
So that just, you know, reallyhits home of, you know, young
people don't have a lot ofautonomy over their own
well-being.
And it allows us to place youngpeople as inferior.
(13:17):
So recognizing that that's justso harmful to kind of not give
that voice or that respect tothe young people in our
community.
And it's intergenerationalbecause all of us have been
young people at some point.
And it's hard to embody thebelief that young people today
should receive more respect,more power, more privilege than
we adults received when we weregrowing up.
(13:39):
But it shows up so manydifferent ways.
In Oregon, one of the ways thatit shows up, you know, on a
systemic level is minors underthe age of 14 cannot access a
confidential advocate orsomebody who isn't a mandatory
reporter of child abuse withoutparental permission.
And, you know, no matter whatyour stance is on mandatory
(14:00):
reporting, this shows how youngpeople have less access to
autonomy, to their own narrativeabout their experiences than
adults.
As we're moving towards a spacewhere youth are guiding their
own narrative, we have to kindof reconsider these things and
just question why they are inplace and how do we make them so
they continue to give youthspaces to have their own voice
(14:22):
and create their own narrative.
SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
So the thing I want to add too is just that, like
Leah mentioned adultism.
This is like a clear example ofhow it shows face and in a lot
of adults' minds, or even inyouth's minds, a lot of youth
reported to us in the peacereport that kind of mentioned
that a lot of adults prioritizelike punitive action rather than
developmental, right?
Instead of working to developyouth and um encourage them and
(14:48):
encourage growth, they focus onhow to punish them to correct
certain behaviors, right?
And so a lot of that comes witha lack of patience for youth.
And that was a recurrent themethat we saw throughout the
report.
I have a quote here from one ofthe youth that shared with us
that says, I wish in mychildhood adults were more
patient with me, as a lot ofadults in my life jumped to
(15:08):
conclusions too quickly insteadof listening and being patient
with me.
This quote shows themarginalization that youth
experience, especially duringthat early development, very
sensitive time that we heardfrom so many youth throughout
the report.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
So I want to know in your work, and you did list out
earlier, but what are some ofthose practicable strategies,
programs, or efforts to embraceour youths in our communities,
processes, and decision making?
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, as Adrienmentioned earlier, we really
think about how we're engagingyouth on multiple levels, right?
So how we're engaging them inconversations about how
individual caretaker educationand supports are created, how we
think about it between adultsand youth and how we're creating
(16:01):
those relationships.
Um, we think about it in termsof, you know, how are youth
actively weighing in on buildingand shaping resources and assets
in their communities, whetherthat be you know, nonprofit
organizations, their schools,groups that they're part of, and
then also, you know, on a largerscale.
So how we're thinking aboutyouth engagement on a policy or
(16:24):
a systems level, how are youthable to directly impact and
provide feedback that's you knowreally authentically heard in
state and local policies, youknow, weighing in on school
board decisions, how they areable to actively impact the
changes that impact children andfamilies across Oregon.
And one of the ways that we'redoing this on a community level
(16:47):
in Lane County is Seesaw is partof the Lane County Violence
Prevention Coalition.
And we have created spaceswithin this coalition where
organizations across the countydoing similar work are coming
together and coming up withsolutions for shared problems
and working to de-silo theresources and supports that
exist in the community.
(17:08):
And every single step of theway, every time this group
meets, we make sure that thereis a space for youth feedback
that drives the direction of thework.
So it really, you know, requiresus to take a step back and
reshape the way that we moveforward to make sure that we're
opening up a space for youth toactively be part of that program
to impact that community levelchange.
SPEAKER_02 (17:30):
And I want to touch on a another piece that you
mentioned on, like you said,tokenizing youth and how it can
be extremely harmful.
It's it can be extremelyfrustrating because you know we
work with a lot of adults.
We see firsthand how adults aretokenizing youth, but also the
youth are reporting that theysee that as well, that they're
(17:50):
experiencing that.
So it's not just like uh fromour perspective, youth are
firsthand sharing that, whichonly adds to the frustration.
You know, tokenizing youth canbe really harmful because it's
not about truly valuing theirvoices, it's about serving like
an adult agenda, you know.
And this just makes me think ofanother quote from our peace
report.
The youth explained thatsometimes I felt like I was the
(18:14):
one chosen to talk because Ihave a great GPA and I'm pretty
okay when it comes to speaking.
So I'm an acceptable version ofa Latina that they would love to
hear from, right?
So it's like picking andchoosing who is quote unquote
acceptable to speak on thebehalf of youth, right?
And so, like I kind of mentionedearlier, it's a discredit to the
(18:35):
people that they're representingbecause their voices aren't
being heard, and it's a lot ofpressure to put on one youth or
a few youth, right?
But in terms of what we do overat Seesaw Strategies, um, we
incorporate our YAC, like Imentioned.
The R Yak isn't just like astage piece, it is a part of our
organization.
(18:55):
They're co-creators in a lot ofour content.
They're the ones who develop therecommendations within our peace
report.
Other great examples are thatthey participate in reviewing
data in our OCAP study, thestatewide study.
They participate in reviewingour questions to ensure that
it's youth friendly.
They also help identifypriorities, things that our
(19:17):
organization should prioritizeand design prevention strategies
throughout our studies.
Uh, we also focus on practicalbarriers for youth.
So that looks like stipends,kind of like Leah mentioned,
providing stipends, providingtransportation and safe spaces
where youth can participate,whether that's virtually with
the like one-on-one spaces orphysically.
(19:40):
And so when you put those piecestogether, uh youth really feel
respected and invested.
And that's where like realchange can start to happen with
the relationship between adultsand youth.
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
Have you been able to witness any changes in the
youth that you have worked withthrough these programs?
And if so, what did it looklike?
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
We actually recently just asked our youth advisory
council members about theirexperience and about how they
are seeing their impact show upin their communities.
And one of the things that youknow really stands out is that
youth aren't just seeing the waythat they show up as enhancing
their own well-being and safety,but they're seeing it in their
(20:24):
peers.
So it they are seeing that theyhave the tools or are able to
kind of direct their peers indirections to provide more
supports.
And again, I think that thatplays into kind of this idea
that preventing childmaltreatment is on the flip side
of fostering child safety andwell-being.
So we see that our youthadvisory council members and you
(20:48):
know the youth that theyinteract with are actively being
able to speak to the resourcesin their community and link
things together as to how theyare actively able to kind of
hold each other and createspaces where that well-being and
that safety has more opportunityto thrive, which is really
(21:09):
exciting.
Um, and we are excited to see itcontinue to grow and be able to
be amplified in the youth thatwe're directly working with and
their peers.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
And another thing that I'm super excited for is
our youth within the YAC arecreating a um video for
preparation of the PCAconference to ensure that we're
representing their voice aswell.
And it is just truly, trulyamazing how well the videos come
together.
It's, you know, it's all theyouth that are speaking.
(21:39):
And it was developed by one ofthe youth in the YAC, which was
super amazing to do.
And they go on to explain on howyouth have a perspective that
adults don't see.
They are in the front linesexperiencing these problems that
youth are experiencing.
And so they can see gaps andproblems that adults overlook.
And I just I'm so excited foreveryone at the PCAA conference
(22:03):
to get a look at that and seetheir voices being heard.
SPEAKER_01 (22:05):
Now, you will be presenting at the 2025 Prevent
Child Abuse America NationalConference.
What can we expect from yourpresentation there?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
Yeah, we're so excited to be there.
And we are really gonna kind ofstart off by sharing some of the
research that really has guidedus in this direction of why
we've really kind of taken onthis stance of centering youth
so deeply in our work.
And then we're gonna share, youknow, kind of how we have
reflected on theserecommendations and what it
(22:35):
looks like currently in LaneCounty and how we're looking to
further build out youth-centeredwork in our prevention work in
Lane County and throughout thestate of Oregon and kind of have
opportunities for groupreflection of, you know, how we
are implementing youthrecommendations in places both
within Oregon and around thecountry.
(22:56):
So we're really excited to havethat conversation with folks to
share kind of what we've learnedand then to hear the vast
knowledge that's going to bepresent in that space as well.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Leah Adrian, I so appreciate you joining the
podcast.
And we will see you in Portland,Oregon, August 12th through
August 14th.
Thank you so much for having us,and thank you for the amazing
conversation.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Thanks so much for having us.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
And you can invite upstream solutions into your
feed by subscribing to the ShiftVoices of Prevention today.
Join us to create an ecosystemwhere children and families live
purposeful and happy lives withhope for the future.
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