State law affects children and teens in a number of different ways and so the questions they ask our reference librarians are equally varied.  Teens ask us how they can become emancipated, at what age can they themselves can decide to leave public school, and who is financially responsible if they wreck the family car.  They also ask us about name change, getting financial support for college from divorced parents and if they are indeed required to wear a helmet while riding their bicycles.

Researching questions about youth law in Washington State almost always begins with a review of the relevant chapters in Volumes 19 -21 of Thomson/West’s Washington Practice and the Washington State Bar Association’s Washington Family Law Deskbook.  Both sets provide excellent coverage of “standard” topics such as divorce, child custody and child support.  In addition, Volume 19 of Washington Practice has an entire chapter devoted to the legal status of minors and another devoted to the procedure for statutory emancipation, including a discussion about how to appeal a decree of emancipation.  The Washington Family Law Deskbook includes a chapter dealing with child abuse and neglect and one discussing juvenile offenders and juvenile court procedures.  Of course, it would remise of us not to also mention that venerable standbys like American Jurisprudence and Corpus Juris Secundum each have several sections dealing with these same topics.  Should you wish to use either of these resources, keep in mind that the appropriate index terms are the phrases “children and minors” and “juvenile delinquents” rather than “minors” or “youth”.

We sometimes receive questions about structured settlements involving children or teens.  For these we most often rely on recent CLE materials from the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, both of whom have published specific materials on minor settlements.  Parents and children alike ask us questions about the rights and responsibilities of children in public and private schools.  For these we rely on texts like Valente’s Education Law: Public and Private and Alexander’s The Law of Schools, Students and Teachers in a Nutshell.  The web site sponsored by the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction also has useful links to articles discussing various aspects of education law: www.k12.wa.us.

We also receive questions about juvenile offenders and the State juvenile justice system.  We collect all King County Bar Association and Washington State Bar Association CLE manuals in this area.  We also own copies of the State Bar’s Juvenile Criminal Law in Washington: A Practice Guide.  Similar titles can be found near this title on the shelf at KF 9780.

Last but certainly not least, the Law Library’s subscriptions to Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline provide electronic access to law review articles, cases and statutes related to all areas of youth and juvenile law.