CARE TO CRIMINALIZATION: HOW ADULTS WITH LIVED CROSSOVER KID EXPERIENCE PERCIEVE THEIR EXPERIENCES IN THE CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Crossover kids are youth who were/are in the child protection system and cross over into the juvenile/criminal justice system. Children who have been in the child protection system are 52% more likely to end up in the criminal justice system (Baidawi, 2020; Bateman, 2021; Turpel-Lafond, 2009). This creates a concerning trajectory for youth who are in the child protection system, through no fault of their own, because criminal justice involvement can follow them into adulthood. Children are entering a system of care that is criminalizing them and moving them into a system of custody. There has been scholarship using extant data from both child protection files and juvenile justice files to explain how this crossover is happening. What is missing from the literature is perceptions of those with lived crossover kid experience, actual conversations with this population of people. This thesis gives voice to adults with lived crossover experience about their experiences with the child protection system, the criminal justice system, and their recommendations to prevent future crossover kids. To further contextualize the perceptions of adults with lived crossover kid experience, I situate their experiences within a broader media analysis of Twitter posts made by researchers, professionals and agencies who work with crossover kids. This study is examined through a life course theory lens, as there are transitions into each system, turning points that start the transitions, and life trajectories can be affected