NAYJ Y outh Justice T raining Seminar - Monday 2nd April 2012 - John Moores University Y outh Resettlement and the Law Care into Practice Applying Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations to the Y oung Peoples Estat e Principles Policy Children in Need?
W orkshop 5 will.... ➡ Provide an historical summary overview of youth justice development of recent years ➡ Establish that policy & research have repeatedly identified looked after children and ‘children in need’ in the YJS ➡ Highlight how their needs are recognised and better addressed by the Children & Young Persons Act 2008 Who are we talking about...?
Some Considerations.... Things to consider: 1. How effective is resettlement after 10-years of YJ reforms? 2. Can 15, 16 and 17 year olds be “children in need” 3. ‘Prison Doesn’t Work’ debate - Is that statement true? 4. The ‘What Works’ vs ‘What Doesn’t Work’ agenda 5. The Leaving Care - Leaving Custody parallels 6. Governance: Roles and Responsibilities 7. What are the barriers to improving outcomes - Criteria? 8. It’s Complex! ------- Is it really that complex?
Historical Context.... Chadwick - 20th Century Commentator ➡ Cited several instances of, ‘...great havoc committed by mere boys...’ The Poor Law Commission of 1842 ➡ ‘...a population that is young, inexperienced, ignorant, credulous, passionate and dangerous...’ and as having, ‘...a perpetual tendency to moral as well as physical deterioration...’ Matthew Davenport Hill -1855 ➡ ‘The delinquent is a little stunted man already - he knows much and a great deal too much of what is called life... He is self-reliant, he has long directed or misdirected his own actions and has so little trust in those about him, that he submits to no control and asks for no protection. He has consequently much to unlearn - he has to be turned again into a child’
Definitions.... 1989 Children Act - Section 105 Definition of a “Child” A person under the age of 18 Section 17(10) Definition of a “Child in Need” (a) he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part
Distinctions.... The Delinquent ➡ Was there based on his behaviour... Was sent to Reform School Neglected child ➡ Was there based on his state of being for which he was assumed to have no responsibility... Was sent to Industrial School Ingleby Committee (1960) ➡ Agonised over whether a juvenile magistrate could have regard to the welfare needs of the child whilst at the same time being asked to focus on criminal allegations of irresponsibility Lord Longford (1964) ➡ The Labour party published a report: ‘Crime: A Challenge to Us All’ outlining proposal for a new way of dealing with juvenile offenders. ‘Move away from court proceedings.... Establish a type of family support....’
Government Policy to E ff ective Practice Legislation >> Regulations >> Guidance >> Policy >> Practice ‘...the building blocks towards improved L/T outcomes ...’ Spirit? ------- Intent?
Progress.... Labour Government (1965) ➡ White Paper based on the Longford philosophy: ‘The Child, The Family and the Young Offender’ ➡ Move away from the punitive approach towards a welfare based ideology that sought to decriminalise young people Children and Young Person’s Act (1969) ➡ Civil Service Paper ‘Children in Trouble’ led to the C&YP Act (1969) ➡ Act enable local authorities to set up local schemes of community based interventions for young people at risk of court. They were called IT Programs and, ➡ ‘...lay between disposals which intervened little in the young person’s life and those which disrupted it by removal from the community’ (Curtis (1989)
More Recently.... Drafting the 1989 Children Act ➡ Suicide of Philip Knight (1990) - 15 year old in Swansea Prison on remand for 3 weeks ➡ At the time, the youngest suicide in a prison in the UK. He was sentenced but a secure bed could not be found. ➡ He returned to Swansea Prison and died the same day (Hansard 26th July 1990 vol 177). Government policy at the time ➡ Starting with the remand population - remove all 15 & 16 year old children from Prison Service custody through a building development programme designed to increase the number of secure beds within local authority type secure units ➡ In the event, not only did the removal of 15-17 year olds never materialise, but their number almost doubled from 1993 - 1998
The Principles? ‘...the welfare of the child is paramount...’ Principles represents a set of values that orientate and rule the conduct of a concrete society. The law establishes an obligation in the individual's conscience that belongs to the cultural field in which such values are accepted. Why? We Advocate A principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed... The principles of such a system are understood by its users as Using the Law the essential characteristics of the system, or reflecting system's designed purpose, and the effective operation or use of which would be impossible if any one of the principles was to be ignored. Because of the Principles
Legal Status.... All young people will fall into one or more of the following categories: 1) Child in Need: Known PREVIOUSLY to have been provided with intervention and support from a children and families social worker subject to a child protection plan - s.17 / s.47 2) Child in Need: Identified NOW as possibly requiring social work assessment and intervention (e.g. possibly homeless) 3) Looked After: Subject of a Full Care Order (s.31) so that the local authority shares parental responsibility for the child 4) Former Looked After: i.e. accommodated by voluntary agreement (s.20 & s.21) prior to custody, which means the local authority does not have any parental responsibility for the child 5) Care Leaver: i. ‘Relevant’ ii. ‘Former Relevant’ or iii. ‘Qualifying’ 6) Priority Need for Accommodation: Under Part 7 of the 1996 Act if no local authority duty under s.20 7) Returning Home Accurately identifying a young person’s legal status is essential if legal entitlements to post-custodial support are to be accessed
Q: For Practitioners.... Are you able to be an Advocate...? Following the 1989 Children Act Judgment (2002) or Are you forced to be Risk Averse...?
Legislative Framework The Children Act 1989 The Crime & Disorder Act 1998 The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 The Children Act 2004 The Children & Young Persons Act 2008 Judicial Reviews
Contextual Quotes.... 2002: Mr Justice Munby ‘...very large numbers indeed of 2003: Child Protection & Safeguards Review the children in YOIs are, in any one ‘Children looked after by the Prison Service should sense of the phrase, “children in be accorded the same status and right in law, as need” - indeed children in children looked after by local authorities’ desperate need’ 2007: Secretary of State 2003: Key Elements of Effective ‘...there is also a clear need to make sure that Practice - Resettlement when young people leave custody, they are ‘Successful resettlement, affecting all properly resettled... The transition from custody aspects of a young person’s life, is needs to give them the foundation to establish a collaboration between a range of better, more stable life outside of custody. One agencies, with often distressed and question we should ask ask is whether young excluded young people, resettlement will people who leave custody have the same kind of only work with prolonged and concerted support as children leaving care? In practice, this effort... There will be no quick fixes’ doesn’t happen...’
The Hard Facts.... Education Social Care • 55 will not have had access to F/T education • 44 will have a history of local authority care prior to custody • 45 will have lived in unsuitable accommodation • 28 will not have had education provision at all at some point in the 12-months prior to prior to custody sentencing • 50 will have literacy and numeracy levels below • 28 will not have an accommodation placement that of an average 11 year old arranged for them on release • 25 equal or below an average 7 year old Health Youth Justice • 85 will show signs of personality disorder • 60 will have been in custody more than once • 31 will have mental health needs including • 6 will have been to custody more than 5 times depression, anxiety & post-traumatic stress • 10 nationally will be from minority ethnic • 69 drank alcohol or used drugs in order to communities think less about their problems • 70 of the population of some London boroughs • 60 will be considered by their drugs worker to will be from minority ethnic communities have a substance misuse problem
Children & Y oung Persons Act 2008 Section 15 Former Looked After Child The Children & Young Persons Act 2008 • YP looked after under s.20 prior to sentence or remand s.23ZA • YP who were looked after by virtue of being remanded to LA care under s.23(1) of CYPA 1969 Purpose of Visit Notification & Visiting Within 20-days - to complete an assessment of the child’s needs whilst Representative must not in custody and on release be a YOT Worker
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