ChildLaw MJ Independent Study

Catalog description

The student will be engaged in research and in initiating the development of a curriculum targeted to a teen audience that educates teens about local and federal laws that have an impact on their lives as adolescents, including juvenile justice issues, mental health laws, custody issues, drinking and driving. The student has been working with adolescents on psychological issues as part of her field placement for the Masters of Social Work degree. This course will allow her to broaden that focus to include legal considerations that play an important role in helping teens who will soon be emancipated and facing lives as adults. The first part of the course will require the student to identify the specific issues and laws that will be included in the curriculum and to explore resources, both in law journals and in interviews with teaching faculty, that will inform her presentation of the issues. The second part of the course will be devoted to developing the format for the curriculum that will be most effective in reaching this media savvy audience. The format will be informed by the student's knowledge from the field of social work of the psychological development of adolescents and their needs, supported by current research. The goal of the course is to begin a project which will be fully completed at the end of the thesis capstone course in the Master's in Jurisprudence Degree.