Vulnerable youth need justice, and legal aid needs community

Everyone deserves access to justice. Eight years ago, I took a chance that the community would show up to support legal services – and justice – for vulnerable kids and young adults. 

I’ll never forget the first client who walked through our doors or any of the clients I’ve represented. As I step down from leading Arizona Legal Women and Youth Services (ALWAYS) and turn the reins over to a brilliant successor, I can’t help but reflect on all that I’ve learned, felt, and hoped during my time running a legal aid center.

At ALWAYS, we serve human trafficking survivors and children and young adults affected by homelessness, abuse, and the foster care system. With the exception of trafficking survivors, everyone we serve is 24 years old or younger. Our work centers on helping clients eliminate legal obstacles that stand in the way of safety, stability and opportunity. Oftentimes, this can only happen with a lawyer at their side.

If it’s difficult to imagine why a young adult would need a lawyer, consider the burdens they carry and are striving to rise above. This is who ALWAYS serves:

• A client who scheduled an appointment with us as soon as she turned 18 and transitioned out of foster care. She wanted a driver’s license but was denied because her name had been changed multiple times in multiple states through adoptions that did not provide the permanence they were intended to.  When we assisted her with unsealing her court records, she finally obtained that license – a pathway not just to driving but to a job, housing and navigating adulthood.
• A young mother who had lost her own mother to cancer and entered foster care as a teenager. When she ran away, she landed in a home with adults who forced her into a drug sale operation, and she was soon sentenced in juvenile court on a drug charge that followed her into adulthood. When we helped her obtain a court order to set aside and destroy her juvenile records, she says it made a difference to employers and her own self-esteem. 
• A young mother and human trafficking survivor who never entered foster care but had been on her own since she was 14 years old. We successfully won a post-conviction dismissal of her trafficking-related criminal history. She said the judges wouldn’t listen to her before but treated her respectfully once she showed up with a lawyer. 
• A despondent and undocumented teenager who found us through a homeless and runaway youth program. He had been eligible for an immigration program for years but simply never had the money or guidance to apply for it. He was desperate to work to support himself. Once he could work, he quickly rose to a management position in his workplace.

The vast majority of the people we serve have survived difficult trauma and have already sought help moving forward through an agency serving runaway and homeless youth; a foster care program; domestic violence or trafficking program; or other community partner. As I leave my role with ALWAYS, I celebrate the case managers and workers who put in long hours under tough conditions because they want to make a difference in the lives of young people. My work as a lawyer could never be successful without partners who help my clients find a place to lay their head, figure out how to access food and health care, and think through job and educational options. 

For more information
on Juvenile Indigent Defense, go to
► Our Juvenile Justice Resource Hub

When I first started ALWAYS, I used to remark on being inspired by the incredible resilience of my clients. I am absolutely still inspired by every client I’ve served, but eight years of running a legal aid center has taught me that no one should have to be so resilient as the children or young adults I’ve served. These past eight years have made me feel a deep sense of urgency that our government and communities must do more to prevent family crisis before it happens, must do more to create accessible housing, child care and health care services, including substance abuse and mental health services, and must do more to support youth who still end up on their own. I applaud the direction that the Family First Prevention Services Act has laid, and I remain hopeful as so many partners collaborate to live out the promise it envisions.

Finally, I’ll add that vulnerable kids and youth also need access to lawyers. Every person deserves a chance to seek justice. It has been my honor to make this a reality alongside so many vulnerable kids, youth and trafficking survivors. 

I’m grateful that the community did show up to support the work and clients of ALWAYS. Thanks to every person, foundation, government partner, and organization out there who makes this happen in your own community. Our kids and youth will always have a greater chance to stay safe, stable, and to find opportunity when we are working together towards this goal.

January Contreras is the founding CEO of Arizona Legal Women and Youth Services (ALWAYS). She fully transitions out of her ALWAYS position on October 8, 2021. ALWAYS is an American Bar Association Homeless Youth Model Program. Reach out to her at January@ALWAYSaz.org or on twitter @JanuaryAZ.